New Delhi: India's import of total finished steel fell 36 percent to 7.4 million tonnes (MT) and exports jumped 102 percent to 8.2 MT in 2016-17, according to official data.


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In terms of production too the country did well, according to Joint Plant Committee's annual report on the sector for 2016-17.


Export of total finished steel rose 102.1 percent in April-March 2016-17 to 8.244 MT as against 4 MT in same period of last year and dependence on import eased to 7.4 MT as compared to 11.7 MT in the preceding fiscal, it said.


"During April-March 2016-17, crude steel production was 97.385 MT, a growth of 8.5 percent, over the same period of last year," the report said.


The country recorded a crude steel output of 89.7 MT in 2015-16.


Consumption of steel also grew from 81.5 MT to 83.9 MT in 2016-17.


In March 2017, exports were up 363 percent at 1.621 MT over the year-ago period while it rose 114 percent as compared to the preceding month of February 2017 at 0.756 MT.


Imports in March, 2017 (0.8 MT) was down 19.7 percent over March 2016 but was up 51.8 percent over February 2017 at 0.491 MT, it added.


Overall, crude steel production in March 2017 (8.274 MT) was down by 0.5 percent over March 2016 but was up 2 percent over February 2017 at 8.084 MT, the data showed.


India is the third largest producer of crude steel after China and Japan and is aiming to become the second largest in the near term.


Constituted in 1964, JPC formulates guidelines for production, allocation, pricing and distribution of iron and steel materials.