India’s finished steel imports, valued at ₹52,862 crore, is almost double that of the exports, valued at ₹ 26,394 crore; with the trade deficit widening to ₹26,468 crore – the highest in the last five years -for the April – November period of this fiscal (FY25), as per a report of India’s Steel Ministry accessed by businessline. China dominated the import shipments with nearly one out of three offerings coming from the East Asian nation, while export markets, especially Europe, remained under stress.
For the period under review, India was a net importer of finished steel by 3.5 million tonnes (mt), in volume terms.
India was a net importer of finished steel with imports at 6.5 mt, up by 26.6 per cent; outpacing exports by 3.154 mt, down by 23.6 per cent, during this period.
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Chinese Imports Lead
As per the report, Chinese shipments saw a near 23 per cent rise y-o-y for the April – Nov period to nearly 2.0 mt. In the year-ago-period, the imports were at 1.6 mt. Import dominance of East Asian nation was mostly in categories like stainless steel and alloyed offerings – at 0.7 mt and in other finished steel categories such as plates, electrical sheets, coated galvanised coil and plates, among others.
China overtook Japan – another key East Asian importer – in at least two to three categories.
Imports from Japan saw an over 100 per cent rise y-o-y (8-month period) to 1.4 mt, up from 0.7 mt in the same period last fiscal.
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Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam were the other big ticket importers of steel into the country.
“Imports from Vietnam have not slowed significantly, but a DGTR probe has led to a slight reduction in numbers. In fact, there is also a high base effect because of which import growth from Vietnam is seen to be low, at around 11 per cent y-o-y,” a market participant said.
Vietnam, previously one of India’s largest export markets, turned into an importer last fiscal onwards. Indian steel industry has incidentally been citing this as a situation where China is indirectly using India’s FTAs with other Asian nations to reroute its offerings. The allegation is China has set up facilities or is investing in facilities across these FTA countries, the latter having far more steel-making capacities than demand, and then using it to “dump cheap steel” into India.
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Export Challenges Persist
Steel exports continue to be hit, apart from the UK and Belgium.
In other big ticket European markets that include Italy and Spain, shipments were down 22 and 32 per cent respectively. But in value terms, all the three European markets saw a decline in exports ranging between 5 and 32 per cent, indicating continued pressure.
Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal, the largest steel producer in Europe, announced a hike in HRC prices of around EUR 30/t ($31/t) for February-March 2025 deliveries, citing stronger apparent demand from the automotive industry in the first quarter of 2025, market intelligence firm, BigMint said.
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“This could lead to some revival in prices for European shipments. In case of UK, most of the exports are supply of material by one company to its UK-entity in order to continue operations there,” another market participant said.
On the other hand, HRC export offers to Europe held steady w-o-w at $590-595/tonne ($540-545/t FOB east coast India).
Previous key markets, like the UAE also do not feature among the top five markets, with Indian steel-makers losing out to China in terms of price.
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As per market intelligence firm, BigMint, Indian HRC export offers to the Middle East remained largely stable w-o-w. However, trading activity in the region slowed down considerably.
Indian HRC export offers to the Middle East were at $540-545/tonne; mostly stable. Slow demand led to limited trade activities in the region. “However, competitive Chinese offers remain a concern. Chinese HRC export offers to the ME dropped by $5/t w-o-w to $515-520/ tonne,” BigMint mentioned in its report.