By Anil Mathews

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics released by the Directorate General of Commerce Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, indicate that the country’s steel scrap imports totaled 633,000 tons in January this year. This is significantly higher by over 31% over the previous month. The country had imported 482,500 tons in Dec ’16. However, when matched with the imports during the same month a year before, the Jan ’17 imports were down significantly by 23.5%. The Indian steel scrap imports had totaled 827,500 tons in January last year.

The prices of ferrous scrap imported into India increased. The supply has become tight, on account of US and UK traders holding back their supplies. Meantime, domestic DRI prices continued to rise in India, amidst weak demand for finished steel. The import prices of HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap increased by $10-15 per tonne from $265-275 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday from $250-265 per tonne cfr during the week prior to that.

During the entire year 2016, India imported 6.382 million tons of scrap. The yearly imports dropped by nearly 5%, as compared with the imports of 6.718 million tons during 2015. The yearly imports registered second straight year of decline in 2016. The monthly imports averaged at 532,000 tons. The largest supplier of scrap to India during the year was the US. The US scrap exports to India totaled 985,000 tons, accounting for 15.4% of total scrap imports by India during the year. The scrap imports from the US jumped higher by nearly 10% over the previous year. The second largest scrap exporter to India was the UK with 969,000 tons. The imports from the UK accounted for 15.2% share of India’s scrap imports in 2016. The imports from the UK have increased by 5% during the year.

Scrap Imports-Dec ‘16

India’s scrap imports totaled 483,000 tons in Dec ’16. The imports from the US dropped sharply to 77,000 tons. The scrap imports from the UK totaled 128,000 tons.

Scrap Imports-Nov ‘16

India had reported big jump in ferrous scrap imports during November last year, in comparison with the prior month. It was the second straight month of increase in steel scrap imports by the country.

India imported 482,213 tons of scrap steel during the month of November last year. The imports increased sharply by 26.7% when matched with the month before that. The country had imported 380,642 tons of scrap steel during October 2016. When compared with the year before, the November ’16 imports were down sharply by 23.5%. The country’s ferrous scrap imports had totaled 630,343 tons during November 2015.

The largest exporter of ferrous scrap to India during November last year was the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The imports from the UAE totaled 80,640 tons, accounting for nearly 17% of the total scrap imports by India during the month. The imports from the country witnessed marginal rise from the previous month imports of 79,843 tons. The UK was the second largest exporter during the month, with 64,759 tons. The ferrous scrap imports from the UK surged higher by nearly 40% over the previous month. The other key exporters of ferrous scrap to India during the month were the USA (45,586 tons), South Africa (34,668 tons), Singapore (27,722 tons), Netherlands (22,619 tons) and Thailand (18,950 tons).