Notwithstanding the global slowdown, the Indian steel industry is witnessing a modest growth in steel demand, but the benefit of this growth is being hijacked by cheap imports from China and Korea, said Ravi Uppal, CEO and MD, JSPL.
“The Indian market is not slowing down as much as the global market has done. If you look at the first six months of the year, our demand grew by 4.5% which basically means the demand increased by 3.5 million tons (mt). So who got the benefit of that 3.5 mt? Is it the domestic producers or is it the importers?” Uppal told ISMW.
“Obviously, the benefit was claimed by the importers from China, Korea etc,” he observed.
Noting that imports were up 52% in the first six months this fiscal (2015-16), Uppal said, “Now imports are coming into India at the rate of 1 mt a month, which means 12 mt in a year, which is more than the total production of SAIL or JSW or Tata Steel!”
In other words, he said, net imports from abroad are more than the production of some of the biggest companies in India.
“They are dumping this steel because they go on the basis of marginal costing. We have been able to show the (Indian) government that the rates at which they are selling steel in Korea or Japan or other countries is much higher than the price at which they are offering in India. This means that they are dumping,” he added.
Source:ISMW