Indian Steel Exports to U.S. Plummet as Aluminum Exports Surge
Amidst the trade tension that exists between the United States and India, now comes a report that India’s steel exports to the U.S. last year fell by a whopping 49%.
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On the other hand, exports of Indian aluminum went up by 58%.
The report by the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS), which said the value of Indian steel exports to U.S. was down to U.S. $372 million but aluminum was up to $221 million.
The U.S. had imported steel and aluminum products totaling $29.5 billion and $17.6 billion, respectively, in 2018.
Quoting from the CRS report, the Hindu Business Line said the countries to see the largest declines in the value of their steel exports to the U.S. were:
- South Korea (-$430 million, -15%)
- Turkey (-$413 million, -35%)
- India (-$372 million, -49%)
There were major increases in imports from the European Union (+$567 million, +22%), Mexico (+$508 million, +20%) and Canada (+$404 million, +19%).
According to the CSR, the countries seeing the largest declines in their export totals to the U.S. were:
- China (-$729 million, -40%)
- Russia (-$676 million, -42%)
- Canada (-$294 million, – 4%)
Major increases were from:
- the E.U. (+$ 395 million,+9%)
- India (+$ 221 million,+58%)
- Oman (+$186 million, +200%).
Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump decided to impose blanket tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which applied to India, as well as other countries (such as China). India then proposed retaliatory tariffs against U.S. agricultural products, including apples and lentils, which experts believed would have had an adverse impact on American exports worth nearly U.S. $900 million.
However, India has continued to defer with respect to this option.
The U.S. president had given temporary exemption to several countries from the tariffs pending negotiations. Later, permanent tariff exemptions in exchange for quantitative limitations on U.S. imports were announced covering steel for Brazil and South Korea, and both steel and aluminum for Argentina.
The latest CRS report pointed out that one of the U.S.’s major concerns was overcapacity in steel and aluminum production led by China.
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The U.S. had imposed extensive anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese steel imports to counter the latter’s unfair trade practices, but experts believe the size of Chinese production continues to depress prices globally, according to the CRS report.
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