Steel exports shoot up 150% in February, imports decline 46%

The overall crude steel production in February 2017 saw an increase of 8.5% at 8.08 mt

The steel exports in February registered a growth of 150 per cent while imports came down by 46 per cent.

The quantum jump in exports comes at a time when the government is providing extensive support to the domestic steel industry by way of trade remedial measures, including anti-dumping.

The consumption of steel in February increased marginally by 3 per cent over the same month in 2016, the latest government data showed.

Exports in February 2017 (at 0.75 mt) was up by 150 per cent over February 2016, but declined by 15 per cent over January 2017. Imports in February 2017 (0.49 mt) was down by 46 per cent over February 2016 and by 19 per cent over January 2017.

The overall crude steel production in February 2017 saw an increase of 8.5 per cent at 8.08 mt.

"During April-February 2016-17, crude steel production was 89.08 mt, a growth of 9.3 per cent over the same period last year," it said.

The consumption of total finished steel saw a growth of 3.4 per cent in April-February at 76.22 mt.

Import of total finished steel at 6.59 mt in the first 11 months of 2016-17 declined by 38.5 per cent over the year-ago period.

"Export of total finished steel was up by 77.6 per cent in April-February 2016-17 (6.62 mt) over the same period of last year," the data showed.