Steel shipments to India accelerated in October as rising domestic consumption sucked in more foreign metal. Shares of domestic producers fell.
Imports grew by the most in three months as consumers took advantage of lower global prices, rising 34 percent from a year earlier to 1.18 million metric tons, according to initial data from the steel ministry. For the seven months through October, imports expanded 42 percent to 6.68 million tons.
A slowdown in Chinese demand has seen the world’s biggest producer flood the world market with lower priced steel, prompting importers to seek protection from their governments. India’s last measure was a temporary 20 percent duty in September. JSW Steel Ltd. said last month the government should extend its tariffs after its profits slumped.
“Steel prices are coming down continuously and the trend for imports will continue to be on the upper side only, as the safeguard duty has failed to restrict imports,” Goutam Chakraborty, an analyst at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd., said by phone from Mumbai. “The commentaries that domestic companies have made after their earnings show that they are not very bullish at all.”
China’s steel exports fell in October from record levels, according to data Sunday, which some analysts attributed to rising trade frictions.
Shares of Tata Steel Ltd. declined as much as 3.5 percent before trading 0.5 percent lower in Mumbai, while JSW Steel dropped as much as 2.1 percent and Steel Authority of India Ltd. fell 4.1 percent to the lowest intraday level since 2013. Steel Authority posted a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss on Friday.
India’s steel output rose 1.3 percent in October from a year earlier to 7.8 million tons, while consumption climbed 6.6 percent to 7.06 million tons, the steel ministry’s data showed. For the April-October period, production fell 0.4 percent to 53.32 million tons, while demand rose 4.5 percent to 46.21 million tons, it said.
Source: http://www.mineweb.com/