India turned into a net finished steel importer in the fiscal year ending March 2024 (FY24), according to Joint Plant Committee (JPC) preliminary data accessed by Kallanish. Finished steel imports rose by 38.2% year-on-year to 8.32 million tonnes. Exports grew 11.5% to 7.487mt.

Earlier this year, Indian steel mills called for government intervention against surging imports. In January, mills were reportedly lobbying the steel ministry for safeguard measures, including an import duty of 8-12% on all steel imports, particularly those from China (see Kallanish passim). However, the ministry said it is not likely to impose an import duty, citing higher-than-expected domestic demand.

Indian domestic finished steel production in FY24 rose 12.7% on-year to 138.825mt, and consumption grew 13.6% to 136.25mt. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL), Tata Steel (TSL Group), ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AMNS), JSW Group and Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) together produced 77.345mt of finished steel, up 7% y-o-y.

The above companies accounted for 56% of FY24 total finished steel production. The remaining production amounted to 61.48mt, up by 20.7%. The private sector accounted for 85% of output at 118.309mt, up by 13.5%. Meanwhile, public sector units (PSUs) accounted for 15% at 20.516mt, up by 8.4%.

Domestic finished steel production in March alone rose by 4.3% y-o-y to 12.165mt. PSUs accounted for 15.5% at 1.89mt.

On finished steel exports, hot rolled coil or strip was the item most exported by volume at 2.894mt in FY24. They accounted for 39% of total finished steel shipments. Italy was the largest export market for India, at 1.672mt.

On finished steel imports, HR coils and strips were also the most imported product by volume, at 3.631mt. Imports were up sharply, by 72.2% y-o-y in FY24. And they accounted for 44% of total finished steel intake. China was the largest supplier at 2.687mt, accounting for 32% of India’s imported finished steel.

Indian crude steel production rose 13.2% on-year to 144.04mt, while hot metal production increased 7.2% to 87.02mt in FY24.

The collective crude steel production of SAIL, RINL, TSL Group, AMNS, JSW and JSPL totalled 83.999mt, up by 4.9% on-year. They accounted for 58% of production, while other producers accounted for 42% at 60.044mt. This was up by 27.4% y-o-y. The private sector accounted for 83% of crude steel production at 119.851mt, up by 14.4% y-o-y. PSUs accounted for 17%.

Domestic crude steel production in March rose by 5.6% y-o-y to 12.454mt, of which PSUs accounted for 17.5% of production at 2.178mt, with the remaining led by the private sector.

The collective hot metal production of the above listed companies totalled 77.772mt in FY24, up 2.8% y-o-y. They accounted for 89% of production, while other producers accounted for 11% at 9.247mt. This was up by 68.3% y-o-y. The private sector accounted for 70% of hot metal production at 60.852mt, up by 6.1%. PSUs contributed 30% of production, up by 9.9%.

Hot metal production in March rose by 0.4% y-o-y to 7.558mt. PSUs contributed 31.5% at 2.378mt.