Indian hot rolled flat products exports declined -20% on-year in September to 550,012 tonnes, retreating from the dizzying highs seen since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Indian commerce ministry provisional data seen by Kallanish, China nevertheless continued to source large quantities, taking in 197,127t in September versus virtually zero a year earlier. However, shipments to Vietnam, previously the top market before being overtaken by China in August, dropped for the second consecutive month, by -78% to 80,335t.

Exports to United Arab Emirates grew 423% to 68,946t, but those to Italy and Nepal declined -56% and -4% respectively to 54,736t and 39,514t.

The most-exported product was HR unpickled wide strip below 3mm thick under HS code 720839 whose shipments reached 381,146t. Their average value fell to $439/tonne from $453/t in September 2019, but this was up from $414/t in August 2020.

Indian HR flats exports in January-September nevertheless still grew 57% on-year to 5.995 million tonnes.