India's steel exports to Thailand takes a hit

India's steel exports to Thailand have been severely impacted after Bangkok levied safeguard duty last year in addition to prevailing anti-dumping duty on Indian shipments, sources said.
Industry sources said the move has led to a drastic fall in exports of hot rolled coil (HR Coil) to Thailand at 13,000 tonnes during April-October period of current fiscal against 2 lakh tonnes in the entire 2013-14.
India's steel makers, mainly from Western coasts, started exporting steel to Thailand in galore from 2012-13 to cash on the lucrative demand-supply gap. Comparatively lower logistics was an added incentive.
Exports of HR coil from India took a upturn to three lakh tonnes in 2012-13 from just 28,000 a year earlier. However, it fell to 2 lakh tonnes in the next year. Thailand levied the safeguard duty towards the middle of last year.

Thailand's annual requirement of steel is around 100 lakh tonnes and it produces nearly half of that domestically. This gave a room for Indian steel makers who were on the lookout for lucrative and cost-effective export markets as domestic demand was not growing in desired proportion.
The sudden imposition of the safeguard duty, mainly to protect a couple of domestic firms, took Indian steelmakers off guard and gradually they started shifting their focus to other geographies to make up for the loss.
India has contested the move in Thailand authorities and an interim order has been issued suggesting lowering of the safeguard duty. The final order is expected soon, a source said.

India's total steel exports fell by 6.6 per cent in April-December period of current fiscal to 40 lakh tonnes compared to the same period last year.