After a decline in November, India's steel imports again surged by 23 per cent in December 2015 neutralising the measures taken by the government to check cheap inbound shipments of the product.
Steel imports rose by 23 per cent to 0.94 million tonnes (MT) in December 2015 compared to November, official data showed. In November, steel imports were at 0.76 MT, down by 35 per cent over the previous month.
However, the December imports were down by 1.4 per cent compared to that in same month of 2014.
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Imports of total finished steel stood at 8.389 MT in the April-December period of 2015-16 fiscal, a growth of 29.2 per cent compared to same period of last year.
"India was a net importer of total finished steel in the current fiscal so far," a steel ministry's panel said.
Since June 2015, steel sector has been provided a range of protection including hike in import and safeguard duties to check cheap imports.
Analysts said exporting countries, particularly China, have been constantly adjusting (reducing) the price of steel products in-line with the imposition of duties.
In June, India imposed anti-dumping duty of up to USD 316 per tonne on imports of certain steel products from three countries, including China, to protect domestic producers from below-cost inbound shipments.
Then in August, the government had hiked import duty on base metals, including iron and steel, by 2.5 per cent, in a move aimed at helping domestic players battle out cheap Chinese imports after the currency devaluation by China.
Next month, a provisional safeguard duty of 20 percent was imposed on import of hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel, which was in vogue for 200 days.
