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According to interim data released by the Joint SA738 Grade E steel Factory Council of India on April 21, India's steel imports for the 2024-25 fiscal year (ending March 31, 2025) increased by 14.8% year-on-year to 9.55 million tons, reaching the highest level in nine years, while exports fell sharply by 35.1% year-on-year to 4.86 million tons; The net import volume of finished steel reached 4.69 million tons, an increase of 5.6 times from 830000 tons in the previous fiscal year, becoming a net importer for the second consecutive year.
The import growth is mainly driven by the continuous expansion of demand in India's infrastructure and SA738 Grade E steel manufacturing industries. Among them, hot-rolled coils are the largest steel imported in the 2024-25 fiscal year, accounting for 41.5% of the total imported finished steel, reaching 3.96 million tons.
From the perspective of finished steel importing countries, South Korea became the largest supplier with 2.81 million tons (+5.3% year-on-year), China ranked second with 2.53 million tons (-5.8% year-on-year) exported to India, and Japan jumped to third place with a growth rate of 2.02 million tons (+58.5% year-on-year).
Faced with import pressure, India's policy toolbox continues to exert efforts. In November 2024, the certification of foreign steel mills by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) expired, causing several Chinese steel mills to lose their export qualifications for hot-rolled coils to India. India's import volume for that month decreased by 25.2% year-on-year. After BIS certification, on April 21, 2025, India announced the imposition of a 12% temporary safeguard measure tax (valid for 200 days) on alloy and non alloy steel SA738 Grade E steel plates, in an attempt to suppress import shocks. It is expected that the import volume may weaken this fiscal year.
The local finished steel production in the 2024-25 fiscal year increased by 5.3% year-on-year to 146.56 million tons. Currently, the Indian steel industry is in a period of rapid growth, and it is expected to add 13 million tons of production capacity this year.
