New Delhi: With an aim to offset the impact of the European Union’s carbon tax, India is searching new steel export markets in the Middle East and Asia, a government source was quoted by Reuters.
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism came into effect in January 2026.
EU is a huge market for India as it exports approximately two-thirds of its steel exports to the European countries. India is world’s second-biggest producer of crude steel.
Recently, Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik said that exports hit by Europe’s carbon tax and called for government action to mitigate the losses.
“For exports, we are looking at new markets and we are trying to get agreements with countries in the Middle East where a lot of infrastructure is coming up, and also in Asia,” said the source directly involved in decision-making, declining to be identified as the deliberations are confidential.
“Till now, our exports were focussed on Europe but we are trying to diversify,” the source was quoted by the news agency.
EU Carbon Tax: Reshaping India’s Steel Export Landscape
There has been no official statement from the government. India’s Ministry of Steel did not respond to Reuters’ query.
The agency quoted a senior executive at a major steel firm saying that mills are hoping for government support to help them compete in non-EU markets where China has been dominant.
The source said India is looking for new markets to for supplies of raw materials such as coking coal, limestone, manganese and other critical minerals.
The government-controlled Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and miner NMDC are trying to tap the markets of Middle East, Argentina, Australia and Brazil.
“For coking coal asset acquisition, we are looking at Australia,” the source said.
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