India Doubles Steel Exports In First Quarter Of FY21, China Emerges As Major Export Destination

Joint Plant Commission (JPC) is under the ambit of Union Ministry of Steel and it records the data of the country’s iron and steel sector. According to their latest release, India exported more than twice the amount of finished steel from April-June 2020 than in the same period of the previous year, Sunday Guardian has reported.

China imported almost 28 per cent of the total amount of the product sourced from India. On the other hand, there was a 42 per cent reduction in the total finished steel imported to India, whereas the nation decreased its dependence on China for the given material by 21 per cent in the given time frame.

4.64 million tonnes (MT) of finished steel was exported from India between the months of April and June of this year. China and Vietnam bought 1.3 MT and 1.37 MT of the same. The nationwide lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp reduction of 39.8 per cent in the production levels of finished steel in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year.

Consumption of the product fell by 43.3 per cent in the aforementioned months of 2020 with respect to 2019 too. However, a report from World Steel Association states that India continues to be the second largest steel producer in the world for consecutive years now.