Indian finished steel imports totalled 2.57 million tonnes in the quarter through June, with China, Korea and Japan combined providing 74% of this tonnage, Kallanish learns from the Indian steel ministry.

The quarter imports on an annualized basis for the fiscal year through March 2016 would be 10.28mt, up from a confirmed 9.32mt a year earlier and 5.45mt in the year through March 2014. China supplied 723,160t in the June quarter, Korea 602,560t and Japan 584,980t. The next largest suppliers were Ukraine (95,340t), Germany (89,070t) and Indonesia (83,800t).

“Some domestic steel manufacturers and other stake holders have represented against a surge in imports of steel,” the ministry says. Steps taken in 2015 to address this include the 2.5% hike in June of import duties on long and flat products, and the imposition that month of anti-dumping duties on hot rolled flat stainless steel imports from China, Malaysia and South Korea, the ministry adds.

In the fiscal year through March 2015 China alone supplied 39% of India’s steel imports of 9.32mt. Moreover, in an ironic twist, Indian state-owned NMDC expects to supply 16.5mt of iron ore to Japan and Korea on long-term contracts through March 2018.

JSW Steel said last week it expects the Indian government to “stop further damage from dumping” to the local steel industry (see Kallanish 30 July). Imports have caused “excess steel availability” and resulted in an “inventory build-up across the system causing injury to the domestic steel industry”, the firm observed.