South Korea the top steel supplier to India in FY24-25

South Korea was the largest supplier of finished steel to India in the April 2024-March 2025 fiscal year, although inflows dropped last month owing to uncertainty surrounding safeguard measures.

Shipments from South Korea increased by 5pc on the year to 2.8mn t in the 2024-25 fiscal year, accounting for 29pc of India's total finished steel imports, provisional data from the steel ministry's joint plant committee show. China was the second-largest supplier, exporting about 2.5mn t of finished steel to India over the same period. But Chinese shipments fell by 6pc from a year earlier.

The expiry of Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) certificates for Chinese mills, required for customs clearance of imported steel to India, has pressured shipments from China. Some steel consumers have been importing under the advance license scheme, which allows for imports of non-BIS material provided that the goods are re-exported.

But trade market participants have refrained from booking overseas material owing to safeguard and anti-dumping investigations, leading to a decline in overall imports last month.

In March, finished steel imports from South Korea fell by 18pc on the year to about 162,000t, while inflows from China were 14pc lower, at nearly 123,000t.

Imports of finished steel from Japan registered the greatest growth of major origins, rising by 59pc on the year to 2.02mn t in 2024-25. Shipments from Vietnam fell by 5pc on the year over the same period (see table).

India remained a net importer of finished steel in the 2024-25 fiscal year, with overall inflows having increased by 15pc on the year to nearly 9.6mn t. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) accounted for 41pc of the imports, while the share of overall flat products stood at 95pc.

Domestic Indian steelmakers last year sought protection from lower-priced imports, pointing to surging inflows from Asian suppliers with excess capacity and lackluster domestic demand. Cheaper imports were among the reasons that local HRC prices last year dropped to multi-year lows, which in turn weighed on company profits. Subsequently, the Indian government launched a safeguard investigation in December 2024 and imposed a 12pc provisional safeguard duty on certain flat steel imports for 200 days starting from 21 April this year.

Shipments to Europe, India's largest export market, fell sharply in the second half of last year owing to an anti-dumping investigtion into Indian HRC imports in the EU. Finished steel exports to Italy decreased by 58pc on the year to 707,800t in the 2024-25 fiscal year, while exports to Belgium and Spain dipped by 35pc and 40pc, respectively. Shipments to Italy last month were 70pc lower on the year at 44,100t.

The European market reopened in mid-March after it was clear that India would be subject to zero anti-dumping duties, unlike most other origins. But after a few sales last month, demand has been quiet in April because of lower-priced offers from other Asian origins and public holidays in Europe. Sales of Indian cold-rolled and galvanised coil to the EU have been robust over the past year. Galvanised and colour-coated sheets and coils were the most exported products, accounting for 23pc of India's overall finished steel exports in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

India's finished steel exports to the UAE slipped by 6pc on the year in 2024-25. Indian suppliers pushed for more HRC deals in the Middle East in the first few months of this year, owing to lackluster European buying interest. But lower-priced offers from China and Japan weighed on sales in the Middle East.

Finished steel exports to Nepal stood at 535,700t in 2024-25, a decline of 4pc from the previous year.

By Amruta Khandekar