India’s finished steel exports fell by 52% year-on-year in April-February.

New Delhi:

India exported 52% less finished steel in the April-February period than a year earlier as slower global demand weighed on shipments, according to government data from Reuters.

Although the government removed the export tax in November, the export volume was low at 5.9 million tons.

India, the world’s second largest producer of crude steel, also imports the alloy. In the April-February period, it was a net exporter.

Major steelmakers reported lower profits in the December quarter, partly because the government imposed a tax on exports of some intermediate steel products, such as ingots, in May.

Many steel companies, including JSW Steel Ltd, India’s largest steel producer by capacity, forecast a rise in exports in the current quarter.

India produced 109.35 million tonnes of finished steel between April and February, up 6.2 percent from a year ago, the data showed. Consumption increased by 11.6% and amounted to 107.2 million tons.

India imported 5.6 million tonnes of finished steel during the period, which is 29.5% higher than last year. Crude steel production increased by 3.9% and amounted to 113.44 million tons.

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published on a syndicated channel.)