India: Finished steel exports up 11% m-o-m in Dec'21: JPC

India's finished steel exports stood at 0.798 million tonnes (mn t) in Dec'21, an increase of 11% against 0.722 mn t a month ago, as per provisional data released by Joint Plant Committee (JPC). Similarly, on an annualised basis, steel exports jumped 29% against 0.617 mn t in Dec'20.

During 9MFY'22 (Apr-Dec'21), finished steel exports saw a significant hike of around 24% to 10.329 mn t compared to 8.314 mn t in the corresponding period last year.

Although demand from traditional import markets such as Vietnam and Europe has been de-growing owing to increased Covid concerns and exhausted Europe quotas, Indian mills have been able to explore new markets in the meantime. For instance, bulk HRC export volumes to the UAE totalled 106,612 tonnes (t) in Dec'21 vs 21,000 t in Nov'21, a whopping 408% increase, and those to Turkey and Oman stood at 55,850 t and 46,170 t respectively during the month under review.

Crude steel production rose marginally, m-o-m
Indian mills churned out 9.888 mn t of crude steel in the month of Dec'21, registering a marginal growth of 1% against 9.825 mn t a month ago. However, this was a drop of 4% against 10.286 mn t seen in Dec'20.

Steel mills have been aiming to achieve their annual targets. For example, JSPL, a leading steel producer, has been able to achieve 8 mn t/year of steel production in CY'21, therefore improving the overall production volumes. But, the momentum of growth in production volumes was impacted by planned maintenance shutdowns along with some technical issues with two major steel producers during the month.

During 9MFY'22, crude steel production rose 19% to 87.069 mn t in comparison with 73.417 mn t in the same period last year.

Finished steel production up 2% m-o-m
Finished steel production rose marginally by 2% to 9.390 mn t in Dec'21 in contrast with 9.219 mn t a month ago. However, on an annual basis, production volumes dropped 5% against 9.912 mn t in Dec'20.

During 9MFY'22, finished steel production increased 22% to 82.209 mn t compared to 67.351 mn t.