New Delhi, Mar 1 (KNN) Protectionist policies in European Union (EU) for import of steel products from India and other markets along with the shut down of the Tuticorin  plant of Sterlite Copper are among the major reasons for a sharp drop in exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metal exports, the EEPC India said.

The apex body for engineering exports from India has cautioned that the declining trend in export of the key metals may continue.      

Exports of primary steel fell by 10.7% in January 2019 and 14% in the first ten months of the current fiscal.

Exports of copper and copper products dropped by 76.6% in January 2019 and 69.6% in first the ten months.

Likewise, outward shipments of zinc and products declined by 17.6% in January 2019 and 29.7% in the first ten months, according to EEPC India analysis.

Dispatches of tin and products: fell by 54.8% in January 2019 and 17.4% in the cumulative months of the current fiscal. 

''The cumulative impact of the fall in these four product lines is USD 3.542 billion for the first ten months (without any growth). Had this figure been added to the  USD 65 billion for the April-January period of the  current fiscal, our exports growth would have been shot up to over 11.2% than the current growth rate of over 5.5%," EEPC India Chairman, Ravi Sehgal said. 

For these metals, there was a fall in the exports by 10.73 % (i.e. USD 817.82 million) in January 2019 vis-à-vis January 2018.

Cumulatively, the decline was 13.93% (i.e., around USD 8022.3 million) in first 10 months (April-January 2019) vis-à-vis same period last year.  

The domestic price realization is far better than external prices. 

Further, global price trends also indicate that the Chinese have dropped steel prices between 10% and 15% in various categories and this has further impacted our steel exports negatively.

Decline in growth has been observed in Belgium (-17.83%), Indonesia (-27.88%), South Korea (-17.57%), Malaysia (-28.83%), USA (-57.54%).''It is clear from these facts that the protectionist policies adopted by EU, US are also responsible for the decline in exports of steel.

Besides, Indian domestic refined copper production has fallen significantly during the first half of 2018-19 mainly due to the shutdown of the 400 KT, Tuticorin smelter of Sterlite which accounted for 40% of the country's smelting capacity. (KNN/JM)