April finished steel exports down 25% to 558,000 tonnes, imports up 19%

India's export of finished steel slumped by 25.2 per cent to 0.558 million tonnes (MT) during April 2018, according to a report.

The country had exported 0.746 MT finished steel during the same month a year ago, the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) said it its latest report.

The JPC, under Ministry of Steel, is the only institution in the country that collects and maintains data on domestic steel and iron industry.

"At 0.558 MT, export of total finished steel was down by 25.2 per cent in April 2018 over April 2017," the report said.

The total output of finished steel for sale in April stood at 8.737 MT, up 5.4 per cent from 8.286 MT the country had produced in the same month last year, the report said.

Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had earlier said that India should export six to seven per cent of its total steel production.

As against exports, the imports grew 18.8 per cent to 0.599 MT during April, compared to 0.504 MT in the same month previous year.

India's consumption of total finished steel grew 8.2 per cent to 6.984 MT over April 2017, when the consumption was 6.454 MT, the report said.

"The consumption of total finished steel saw a growth of 8.2 per cent in April 2018 at 6.984 MT over April 2017, under the influence of a rising supply side as both production for sale and imports increased in April 2018 over April 2017," the JPC said.

The Cabinet, in May last year, approved National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017 that envisages Rs 10 trillion investment to take capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030-31 to give a boost to the sector.

The NSP also aims at more than doubling the per capita steel consumption to 158 kg by 2030-31, from about 61 kg at present.