China steel keeps India Inc on edge

India's steelmakers and user industries are keeping a close watch on the trajectory of Chinese steel exports, which could determine these companies' margins in the coming quarters.

- Naman Sun & Nehal Chaliawala

Executives at top steel companies highlighted the outsized impact of Chinese steel on their export and domestic prices during their December quarter earnings calls with media and analysts.

How Chinese steel exports shape up in the coming quarters will be a key factor to monitor, they said.

Despite India's 7.5% import duty and logistics costs, Chinese steel was still 5-10% cheaper than locally produced Despite import duties, steel from China cost less than local steel for most of FY24 steel for the better part ofFY24, curtailing the ability of Indian steelmakers to raise prices and curbed their margins. At the same time, cheaper steel benefits user industries in consumer durables, automakers, and infrastructure and construction companies. Average prices of benchmark hot-rolled coils of steel (HRC), which stood at around 157,900 per tonne in September, fell to just over ₹54,000 in February, as per data from SteelMint.