India's finished steel imports increased by 22.5% in July

In July, India's finished steel imports increased by 22.5% y-o-y, while exports decreased by 52% y-o-y. This change resulted in India becoming a net steel importer during July, with imports exceeding exports by 460,000 tons.

The increase in steel imports was driven by low-priced steel from China and favorable Japanese steel prices due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen. Nevertheless, steel prices in India faced a new decline in July due to cheap imports and the rainy weather conditions brought by the monsoon season.

Domestic steel production and consumption figures showed significant y-o-y increases in July. Crude steel production increased by 7.2% to 12.34 million tons, apparent steel consumption by 14.6% to 12.3 million tons, and finished steel production by 7% to 11.8 million tons.