Indian steel export in April-August dips by 4%: Sushim Banerjee

KOLKATA: Indian steel export has dipped four per cent during the April-August period of the current fiscal, while imports surged 39 per cent during the period under review, Institute for Steel Design & Growth Director General Sushim Banerjee said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a national-level competition on design skills using steel here, Banerjee said, "South Korea and Japan topped the imports table as they enjoy import duty benefit of 4.5 per cent".

South Korea and Japan after signing the FTA agreement with India are getting preferential tariff of three per cent against 7.5 per cent from non-FTA countries.

Banerjee said the total finished steel demand would be 75-76 million tonnes during the current fiscal while crude steel production was expected to be 80 million tonnes.

India exports about 4-5 million tonnes of steel in a year. The countervailing duty by US on Indian steel exports is also impacting export, he said.