Steel exports to drop in 2020-21

India is expected to witness a decline in steel exports in FY 2020-21, due to higher domestic demand from automotive
and infrastructure companies, according to analysts. Exports increased marginally in the April-December period this fiscal to 6.5 million tonnes compared to 6.36 million tonnes in the same period last year, according to the Joint Plant Committee. However, they fell by 11.5% YoY to 767,000 tonnes in December. “The auto sector has seen one of the worst periods in the last 9 months and we see that the worst is behind…we expect better demand from auto and infra companies in FY2021E on a low FY2020 base and we are seeing that restocking has resumed since December 2019,” according to Kotak Institutional Equity analyst Sumangal Nevatia.