India's Ministry of Steel has announced that the country's imports of finished carbon steel increased by 60.2 percent year on year in the first three months (April-June 2007) of the current Indian financial year. In the period in question, imports stood at 1.45 million mt, compared to 900,000 mt in the corresponding period of 2006. Meanwhile, finished steel exports were up by 7.2 percent, from 1.63 million mt in April-June last year to 1.75 million mt for the corresponding period this year.
In addition, India's production of finished carbon steel increased by 4.1 percent during April-June 2007 reaching 15.55 million mt, compared to 14.94 million mt for the same period of the previous year. The country's pig iron production in April-June 2007 registered a rise of 13.8 percent year on year, totaling 1.60 million mt.