India has became a net steel importer in July for the first time since January 2021

India’s steel imports has exceeded exports in July 2022 for the first time since January 2021. This was preceded by a decline in exports during the month. In July 2022, the country imported 444,000 tons of finished steel, which is 8% more than in July 2021. BusinessLine reports about it with the reference to the data from India’s Ministry of Steel.

In April-July 2022, Indian steel imports increased by more than 3% y/y to 1.6 million tons. It is expected that a certain volume of steel, in particular from the Russian Federation, booked at a lower price, will arrive in India in the next few months. Thus, the imports will increase.

In April-July 2022, the largest share in the total import of steel products was hot-rolled non-alloyed steel – 35%, or 0.307 million tons. This is 23% more than in the same period of 2021.

In July 2022, the structure of import by category was as follows:

• HRS coils – 99 thousand tons (+111% y/y);
• GP/GC coils – 75.4 thousand tons (+10%);
• stainless steel and alloys – 209 thousand tons (+46%).

At the same time, in April-July 2022, the import of electrotechnical sheets in India decreased by more than half year-on-year.

From April to July 2022, Korea imported the most steel to India – 0.71 mln tons. This is 8% more y/y. China is in the second place in terms of supply – 0.35 million tons, +23% y/y, and Indonesia is in the third place – 0.11 million tons, +130% y/y. In this period, imports from Japan and Taiwan fell significantly – by 30% and 25%, respectively.

As GMK Center wrote before, Indian iron&steel companies in July 2022 reduced steel exports by 75% compared to the same month in 2021 – to 380,000 tons. Thus, the country became a net importer of steel, dropped to a record low over the past three years.