Nepal’s Billet Imports from India Rise

Nepal’s billet imports from India have increased considerably, in the last few months as domestic steel capacities in the land locked Nation continue to grow at steady pace.

Import of billet has increased to 72,100 MT in the month of Feb 2018 (15th Jan to 14th Feb) from 70,700 MT recorded in Jan 2018 (15th Dec’17 to 14th Jan’18).

Further, the country’s Sponge iron import from India also rose by close to 5 times at 14,100 MT in Feb 2018 (15th Jan to 14th Feb) as compared to 3,106 MT in Jan 2018 (15th Dec’17 to 14th Jan’18).

According to sources the key factors contributing to the sudden rise in semi finished imports from India are increase in capacity utilization by Nepal based finished steel producers and rapid expansion of rolling mills.

As per steel makers in Nepal, due to scarcity of power, the producers have large capacities for re-rolling rather than melting. In Nepal around 3-5 mills have their own Ingot/billet making facility however rest of re-rollers are dependent on India’s billet imports.

Finished Steel Imports

Even though the mills in Nepal has their own healthy rolling capacities, the nation has to import finished products to fulfill domestic steel demand. After devastating earthquake of 2015 in Nepal, the reconstruction of housing sector has propelled steel demand in Nepal.

As per custom data maintained by SteelMint, the country has imported about 60,008 MT Flat steel in the month of Feb 2018 (15th Jan to 14th Feb) which rose from 43,607 MT in Jan 2018 (15th Dec’17 to 14th Jan’18).

Similarly, the Long steel imports also remained healthy and reported at 31,522 MT in Feb 2018 (15th Jan to 14th Feb) as against previous month at 31,799 MT in Jan 2018 (15th Dec’17 to 14th Jan’18).

Nepal Imports for Semis & Finished Steel Products

Qty in MT
Source: Nepal Custom, SteelMint Stats