Finished steel exports fall over 23%; imports up 17% in October

India's finished steel exports fell by 23.4 per cent to 0.596 million tonnes (MT) in October 2018, according to Joint Plant Committee. The country had exported 0.778 MT of finished steel during the same month a year ago, Joint Plant Committee (JPC), the only institution that collects and maintains data on the Indian steel and iron sector, said in its latest report. "Exports stood at 0.596 MT in October 2018, down by 23.4 per cent over October 2017 and was up by 3.8 per cent over September 2018," it said. As against exports, the imports grew by 17.3 per cent to 0.706 MT in October 2018 from 0.602 MT in year-ago period. The country's finished steel output at 11.029 MT in October was 6.1 per cent higher from 10.398 MT in same month of 2017. During October, JPC said, the consumption of finished stood at 8.315 MT 2018, up by 8.4 per cent over 7.672 MT in October 2017. Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had earlier said that India should cut down its dependence on special steel product imports through value addition and form JVs (joint ventures) with global leaders for technological know-how. "PSUs ... when they have advantages like captive mines... why don't they utilise it...why not to put up washeries... why not to go for value addition... special grades of steel," Singh had said, stressing upon the need to curb imports. Despite being the world's second-largest producer of steel, India is still dependent on imports for some products and there is a need to develop technologies to produce electrical grade and auto grade steel to become self-sufficient, he had said