For the first 10 months of the fiscal year that started in April 2022, government statistics gathered by Reuters indicated that India’s imports of Russian steel increased to an eight-year high.

The second-largest producer of crude steel in the world, India, bought 281,000 tonnes of steel from Russia between April and January, more than five times as much as during the same time last year, according to the data.

The increase in imports is the result of a shift in Russian steel trade flows to Asia after Western sanctions were put in place against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine last year. Several long-standing suppliers are being replaced by the new system, and domestic steel manufacturers are worried about perhaps losing market share to the more affordable imports.

According to the data, during the months of April and January, Moscow was India’s fourth-largest steel supplier, becoming one of the top five steel exporters to the nation for the first time since the 2016–17 fiscal year.

Between April and January, hot-rolled coil (HRC) and strips made up around 72% of Moscow’s steel shipments to India.

For the first time in at least eight years, the data indicated that Russia had surpassed Japan as India’s second-largest supplier of HRC.

Around 46,000 Indian rupees ($555.86) per tonne, or at least 21% less than domestic pricing, was the price at which Russian suppliers sold some of their HRC to Indian purchasers, according to a government official with firsthand knowledge of the transaction.

Russian steel imports that are less expensive have raised concerns among Indian steel companies.

Deputy managing director of JSW Steel Ltd. Jayant Acharya said, “The spike in volume and low price point is a subject of worry and needs to be contained.

The report showed that despite finished steel exports more than halving during the time due to weak global demand, India continued to be a net exporter of steel during the first ten months of the fiscal year 2022–2023

With predictions that these volumes will increase, Russia is a consistent customer of Indian stainless steel.

With increasing shipments to Russia and the beginning of exports to South America and the Middle East, Jindal Stainless Ltd., India’s largest stainless steel producer, predicted that its exports will hit a five-year high in the upcoming fiscal year.