India’s steel prices go down, driven by high import and drop in export

Steel prices in India have dropped to the lowest in over three years, primarily driven by high import and moderation in export, says data from BigMint, which is a platform for price reporting, market intelligence and commodities consultation.

In net business terms, India became a net importer of the alloy in the fiscal year 2023-’24, or FY24, and continued being an importer during the four-month period from April to July of the ongoing fiscal year 2024-’25 (FY25).

The volume of steel imported by India between April and July in FY25 was 2.69 million metric tons, while the country exported 1.57 million tons of the alloy.

India’s leading steel manufacturers Tata Steel and JSW Steel have expressed concern over the increased import of the alloy. The government has started an anti-dumping probe into steel products that Vietnam exports to India.

In terms of production, the first four months of the current fiscal year saw India manufacturing 48.8 million metric tons of crude steel and 47 million tons of finished steel. India is currently the second-biggest crude steel producer of the world.

China remains India’s biggest supplier of steel, according to provisional government data quoted by Reuters. China exported nearly 8,07,000 tons to India while Japan and South Korea are in second and third spots respectively, as steel exporters to India.

The top three importers of Indian steel in the April-July period of FY25 are Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

India’s steel industry is among the most significant industries of the nation. India surpassed Japan as the second largest steel producer in January 2019. According to the Indian Steel Association (ISA), India’s total installed steel-making capacity is 154 MT as of March 2023.