India’s flat steel imports rose 5% to 0.89 million tonnes (mn t) in the second quarter (Jul-Sept’21) of the current financial year of 2021-22 (Q2FY’22) compared 0.85 mn t seen in the previous quarter (Apr-Jun’21), as per data maintained with SteelMint.
Data also reveals that electrical steel and HRC/plates imports were the highest in Q2. Electrical steel imports rose 13% q-o-q in the period under review while HRC/plate volumes were up more than 8%. However galvanised steel imports were down 21% q-o-q.
Key importing item
Flat steel imports have been traditionally low from India and have remained mainly restricted to specialty items, touching 1.14 mn t in Q4FY’21. The key items that are mainly imported are the API-grade hot rolled coils and and plates, used in gas pipelines.
Main importing countries
Historically, the three key importing countries have been South Korea, Japan and China. In Q2 too these three countries led the pack. Imports from South Korea were up 13% q-o-q to 0.53 mn t against 0.47 mn t in the previous quarter.
However, volumes actually dropped from both Japan and China by 20% and 13% respectively q-o-q, possibly on the high API grade prices which were assessed in mid-November at $1,000/tonne CFR levels.
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