Indian steel exports fell eight percent year on year in February this year, declining for the first time in eight months, according to an official at the Ministry of Steel.
The official said that total outward shipments of finished steel recorded during the month amounted to 570,000 mt, compared to 619,000 mt during February 2019. Among all product categories, hot rolled coil (HRC) exports fell the sharpest during the month, declining 13 percent compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the official said.
Citing ministry data, the official said that Indian steel production in February this year totaled 8.56 million mt, lower than in the previous two months.
During the April 2019-February 2020 period, domestic steel consumption growth was recorded at just 3.8 percent year on year.
The lower February exports were owing to domestic steel mills once again going in for production cuts in view of sluggish domestic demand and the lack of overseas buyers in key export markets, the official said. The outbreak of the coronavirus will put pressure on the export sales of Indian mills in the April-May period.
“Nobody knows what the future holds. But if the coronavirus spreads further across the country, impacting manufacturing, the steel industry will be highly impacted. There will be huge pressure on prices and we may have to go in for production cuts,” V R Sharma, managing director of Jindal Steel and Power, said.