In this issue

The Indian steel industry especially the finish producers are having a tough time out there pressed from both the ends. The poor availability & high cost of the raw material in the domestic market and supply of cheaper material from neighboring markets has tongue-tied the Indian steelmakers. We imported over 9 mnt of finish steel (including flat & long) in the last fiscal, ie about 18% of total domestic production, which is significant. This is also a jump of over 70% compared to FY14. With a lot of lobbying and push, import duty on finish steel has been increased by 2.5% from current with immediate effect; however this will not affect the 35% of total import coming from Japan & Korea because of free trade agreements with these neighbors. Experts predict what could possibly happen is that more material may come in from these two nations. Will the duty hike actually stop China from pushing its surplus produce into India; only time would tell.

One is unsure how China is going to play it but based on the growth numbers that are being predicted, the country has more steel than it may require and clearly it would want to push surplus in to the emerging markets. One can predict it would do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

India imported about 20% of total flat steel used in FY15. The cheaper material being pushed by China, Japan & Korea has brought down capacity utilization levels of domestic finish producers to about 80%. There is a hope that the import duty rise would reduce inflow from China and make domestic manufacturers compete better with the imported material.

Find out more about the smart & quality conscious Indian consumer and rising need for continuous improvement through its feedback on the domestic flat manufacturers (on page 24).

Steel 360 Magazine Description:

Steel 360 is a monthly magazine covering the metal and mining industry in India. The magazine has a readership of 50,000+ across the globe in the metal and mining fraternity across the country (print circulation only in India). Each issue of the magazine carries a highly informative cover story; write-ups on trending topics, market prices & offers, current news from the metal & mining industry, latest technology trends, columns from industry veterans, import-export statistics, information on upcoming events and much more.
The magazine is a comprehensive handbook to numerous Managing heads, Directors, CEOs, Technical Heads, Marketing/Purchase/Sales Managers, Analysts and other key decision-makers at various business groups in the metal, mining, research, financial services, infrastructure and other related sectors.

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