India's finished steel exports fall sharply by 40% m-o-m in July: JPC

India's finished steel exports registered a sharp fall of 40% m-o-m to 0.38 million tonnes (mnt) in July 2022 in contrast with 0.63 mnt a month ago. In similar lines, export volumes plunged by 75% y-o-y against 1.51 mnt seen in July 2021, as per provisional data released by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC).

Key reasons that attributed to the fall in exports-

• Lucrative offers from Russia: Russia's HRC export offers were highly competitive against offers of the major exporting nations in July, which dampened the sentiments in the exports market. For instance, Russia's Black Sea HRC (SAE1006) offers stood at $603/t FOB levels in July against $658/t FOB in June. India's HRC (SAE1006) export offers were around $617/t FOB and Chinese HRC (SS400) offers were at $623/t FOB in July.
  
  
• Dull demand from key importing nations: Limited buying interest from key importing nations weighed on export offers which impacted the July volumes. Vietnam-based buyers shifted to domestic HRC while demand from the Middle East remained muted on the back of Eid holidays in mid-July. Moreover, the levy of 15% export duty on non-alloyed steel products in late-May 2022 put a dent on exports.
  
  

Crude steel production flat m-o-m in July
India's crude steel production remained largely flat m-o-m at 9.97 mnt in July against 9.96 mnt in the previous month. On an annual basis, crude steel output rose marginally by 2% as compared with 9.75 mnt in July 2021.

Primary mills preponed their maintenance shutdown amid weak demand in the domestic market which impacted the production volumes. Also, steel major JSW Steel operated at lower capacity utilisation rate of 93% in Q1 versus 98% in the previous quarter.

During April-July 2022, Indian mills produced 40.95 mnt of crude steel, up 9% as against 37.74 mnt in the same period last year.

Finished steel production at over 9 mnt in July
India's finished steel production stood at 9.65 mnt in July, up 3% m-o-m as against 9.37 mnt in June. On y-o-y basis, the same rose 10% compared with 8.79 mnt in July 2021.

Finished steel production increased by 9% y-o-y to 38.54 mnt during April-July period as against 35.26 mnt in the same period last year.