The first occurrence happened in July of the preceding year, breaking a streak of four years as a net steel exporter.In July, it was observed from a report of the Steel Ministry, as accessed by businessline, that India had become a net importer of steel for the first time in the current fiscal year.A Ministry official commented that the year-on-year increase in steel exports was due to the base effect from July 2022.Although, during the period from April to July, India continued to be a net steel exporter.In the span of April to July of the fiscal year, which covers a period of four months, exports displayed stagnancy, whereas imports surged by 23 percent year-on-year according to preliminary figures provided by the Ministry.