representative image demand for steel is expected to grow by around 10 through 2022 amid the governments continued focus on the construction of roads railways ports and airports according to moodys investors serviceon the trade front as per the report indias steel exports will continue to remain strong in the coming months as higher prices and regional demand motivate steelmakers to divert part of their production to exports input costs have been on an upswing owing to the russiaukraine war companies have been wary of the higher raw material costs gnawing into their margins steel prices have been no stranger to this phenomenon the prices of iron ore and coking coal two key components of producing steel in the commonlyused basic oxygen furnace bof method have surged recently and are expected to stay elevated as the conflict further tightens supply advt moodys has opined that steel makers with higher selfsufficiency in raw materials are currently better positioned for example tata steel jsw steel have either complete or high selfsufficiency in iron ore for their indian operations these two companies are more shielded from these risks given their backward integration into the production of key steelmaking inputs it said tata steel remains exposed to volatility in its europe and southeast asia operations which are not backward integrated in europe structural improvements in its manufacturing processes and plant upgrades have helped streamline some costs but the lack of backward integration and volatile input and endproduct prices will remain a key sensitivity as per the ratings agencyjsw steel has 13 mining licenses with estimated resources of 1351 million tonnes of iron ore deposits in karnataka and odisha this will help the company meet close to half of its iron ore requirements for its indian operationswhile elevated steel prices support revenue for steelmakers in the region the surge in raw material costs will offset the benefit and lower their margins and earnings moodys saidapac an alternative to russia ukraine for steelmoodys expects the strongest demand for steel in the apac region to come from india followed by korea japan china the domestic demand for steel in india has remained weak with auto sales still remaining weak at april 2017 levels and infra demand only on a requirement basis analysts point out the lingering semiconductor shortage remains a deterrent to car sales advt the breaking out of the russiaukraine war meant that the supply of steel to europe from the two countries saw a disruption along with being major suppliers of the commodity to the region russia and ukraine were also the second and the ninth largest exporters respectively to the world in 2020 as per data from the world steel association and as such the prices of steel have also remained elevatedin this scenario players from the asiapacific region have stepped in to meet the rising demand which will be reflected in their revenues while china was the top steel exporting nation in 2020 india stood at the 8th position