Cold rolled steel mills in India have increased imports of hot rolled coils (HRC) to about 100,000 tonne per month during June-July, 2002 as compared with about 30,000 tonne per month tonne till May.
According to analysts, the increase in imports has been due to an acute shortage of the same in the domestic market. As against a production capacity of 7.7 million tonne per annum, the demand for HRC is estimated to be about 7.5 million tonne.