After 4-month fall, steel imports surge in March

Imports rise 18% on the back of deals struck before govt imposed a floor price in Feb

Steel imports rose 18 per cent in March, snapping four straight months of falls, provisional government data showed, on the back of deals struck before the government imposed a floor price in February to curb cheap imports.

Last week, the government extended safeguard taxes on some  products until March 2018, and in February imposed a floor price on import to deter countries such as China from undercutting local mills, the first such move in 15 years.

India, third-largest steel producer in the world, imported 994,000 tonnes  last month, 18 per cent higher than the corresponding month a year earlier, data from the Joint Plant Committee of the steel ministry showed.

"Some steel could have been booked in January and February. This is probably what has arrived in March, imports are likely to decline again in April and May said Goutam Chakraborty,  analyst at Emkay Global Financial Services.

"Imports are likely to decline again in April and May," Chakraborty added.

Imports rose 20.2 per  cent in the financial year ended March, compared with the same period a year before, the data showed.

Imports were up 9.1 per cent compared with February. Domestic steel makers, including JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Kalyani Steels have lobbied the government for more protectionist measures as their margins have taken a hit due to  overseas purchases from China,  Russia, Japan and South Korea.

Consumption of steel, in the only major market where steel demand is growing, rose 4.3 per cent between April 2015 and March 2016, largely driven by imports.

Steel exports by fell 32.4 per cent at a time when the US has named India among countries that violated anti-dumping law on cold rolled flat products and slapped a tax.