India's steel imports from Russia rise to eight-year high

Mumbai: India's steel imports from Russia rose to an eight-year high in the first ten months of the current financial year. India is the second largest producer of crude steel in the world.

India imported 2,81,000 tonnes of steel from Russia during the April-January period of the current financial year, which is five times more than in the same period of the previous financial year.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Western sanctions on Russia have increased its steel flows to Asian countries. Due to this shift, some traditional suppliers and domestic steel producers are worried about losing market share to lower cost imports.

Russia was India's fourth largest supplier of steel during the April-January period.

During this period, 72 percent of Russia's steel imports to India consisted of hot rolled coils and strips.

This is the first time in eight years that Russia has overtaken Japan as the second largest supplier of hot rolled coils, the figures show.

Indian steel companies are worried about cheap imports of Russian steel. The issue of increased volume and lower prices should be addressed, said a steel company spokesperson.