Ferrous scrap imports to India witnessed a 5% y-o-y drop in FY’20

Ferrous scrap imports to India witnessed a drop in FY’20, down by around 5% Y-o-Y. The country imported 5.55 mnt in FY’20 (Apr’19-Mar’20) in comparison to 5.76 mnt imported in FY’19 (Apr’18-Mar’19).

The imports witnessed a slight drop in FY’20 after showing consistent growth over the last several years. The drop this year was mostly owing to the local scrap and DRI being available at cheaper rates and partily due to a slowdown in domestic steel sentiments in Q3 and Q4 of 2019.

Induction furnace route steelmakers in West, North-West and South India, who are primarily the major buyers of imported scrap, were facing challenges like liquidity crisis and cashflow issues, for most of this period, affecting their buying ability of imported raw materials.

UAE, India’s largest supplier of imported scrap, witnessed its share in India’s total scrap import getting reduced from 20% in FY’19 to 16% in FY’20, while imports from other origins rose slightly.