The diversion of lower-priced offerings to trade, FMCG, and auto sectors, coupled with poor demand in Europe and better acceptability in the domestic market, saw imports from China zoom nearly 50 per cent on a year-on-year basis, making it the largest seller of steel to India.
China managed to displace traditional sellers like Korea, while in select categories of specialised steel, it even overtook Japan.
As per data collated by the Steel Ministry, Chinese imports were at 0.75 million tonnes (mt) in the April–Oct period of FY23, while for earlier years, it stood at 0.49 mt for 7M FY22 and 0.51 mt in 7M FY21. In the pre-Covid years, shipments coming into India were at 0,88 mt in 7M FY20 and 0.95 mt in 7M FY19, respectively.
In October 2023, Indian traders placed orders for close to 0.19 mt of steel from China, making it one of the highest purchasing months.
“So the price of Chinese steel (benchmark hot rolled coil offerings) was among the lowest in October, hovering between $564 per tonne and $581 per tonne range; and started moving up from November onwards. October was the month when a major chunk of these orders were placed,” a trader said.
Offers from China have now moved up to $604 per tonne, which is still lower than the domestic HRC offering, which India’s primary mills have priced at $659 per tonne (₹54,900 per tonne). The price of Chinese offerings has significantly moved up in November – from $589 per tonne a week ago – fuelling speculations of a production cut there.
Import of total finished steel was valued at ₹31,354 crore ($3,798 million).
“Volume-wise, HR Coil/Strip (1.275 mt) was the item most imported (37 per cent share in total finished steel). Also, China was the largest import market for India,” the Ministry report read.
For the first seven months of the fiscal, other major importing nations were Korea (1.08 mt), Japan (0.51 mt), Vietnam (0.28 mt), and Taiwan (80,000 tonnes).
Finished steel imports stood at 3.5 mt, up 10 per cent for the 7M period, on a y-o-y basis.
Category-wise break up
Data from the Ministry shows nearly 0.66 mt of non-alloyed steel, across categories like galvanised coils and plates, electrical sheets, pipes, and HR coils and strips came in for the period under review. As against this, 0.45 mt of stainless steel shipments were sold to India.
Stainless steel imports from China were the highest when compared to other countries like Korea, Japan, and others.
Similarly, China outstripped Japan in all the key categories that include HR coils and strips, galvanised plates and coils, cold rolled coils and sheets, electrical sheets, bars, and rods, among others.
