NEW DELHI: India’s steel imports surged 26.5% to nearly $7.3 billion during May-July 2024, compared to the same period last year, according to the steel ministry’s Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS).
Top 10 product categories such as stainless-steel flats, ingots, sanitary ware, and hot rolled coils comprised 35% of the imports.
Imports of sanitaryware items showed the highest increase during the period, climbing to $440 million in July, from a modest $5 million in May, according to a report by SIMS.
HR coil, and screw and bolt imports also posted robust increases, rising by 62.5% and 75%, respectively.
About 52% of imports by value between May and July were domestically available, with the value of such imports for July at $1.71 billion, up 29% from the previous month.
The report attributed rising imports primarily to price factors. Other factors include customer standards, quantity availability, and delivery time.
China, Norway, and Indonesia have substantially increased their exports to India, increasing to $979 million, $141 million, and $208 million respectively, in July from May this year.