South Korea Becomes India’s Largest Supplier of Finished Steel in the First 11 Months of Fiscal Year

The latest trade data from the Joint Steel A542 Type E steel Works Council (JPC) of India shows a structural adjustment in the steel import market for the first 11 months of the 2024-2025 fiscal year (April 2024 February 2025). South Korea ranks first among supply countries in terms of export volume to India with 2.65 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%; China retreated to second place with 2.41 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%. Among them, the export volume to India in February fell sharply by 69.18% year-on-year to 94000 tons, indicating an accelerating trend of market restructuring.

From the perspective of the evolution of import tiers, Japan A542 Type E steel has become the fastest-growing supplier with a growth rate of 1.92 million tons and a year-on-year surge of 69.7%, while Vietnam maintains its fourth place with 688000 tons (-4.3%). It is worth noting that the cumulative import volume gap between China and South Korea has widened from 125200 tons in January 2025 to 239900 tons in February, with a gap increase of 92%, reflecting the continuous expansion of South Korean enterprises' export advantages to India.

Industry analysis indicates that this structural adjustment is mainly due to changes in the certification policies of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). After the expiration of certification qualifications in November 2024, several Chinese steel mills lost their export qualifications for hot-rolled coils to India, directly leading to a significant reduction in China's export volume of finished steel products to India in the later period. As the main import variety of steel in India, the import volume of hot-rolled coils has shown a cliff like decline after the implementation of policies: from October 2024, it surged by 84.6% year-on-year to 427900 tons, and dropped sharply to 131000 tons in February 2025, with a year-on-year decline of 69.1%. In the first 11 months of the 2024-2025 fiscal year, China's A542 Type E steel total exports of hot-rolled coils to India decreased by 39.3% year-on-year to 363800 tons.

Market monitoring shows that the temporary safeguard measures tax proposal announcement recently released by the Indian Trade Relief Authority may further curb the scale of imports.