Indian steel export in Apr-Aug dips by 4%

Indian steel export has dipped 4% during the April-August period of the current fiscal, while imports surged 39% during the period under review, Institute for Steel Design & Growth Director General Sushim Banerjee said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a national-level competition on design skills using steel here, Banerjee said, "South Korea and Japan topped the imports table as they enjoy import duty benefit of 4.5%".

South Korea and Japan after signing the FTA agreement with India are getting preferential tariff of 3% against 7.5% from non-FTA countries.

Banerjee said the total finished steel demand would be 75-76 million tonnes during the current fiscal while crude steel production was expected to be 80 million tonnes.

India exports about 4-5 million tonnes of steel in a year. The countervailing duty by US on Indian steel exports is also impacting export, he said.