India mulls proposal to hike duty on steel imports

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): As per media reports, Indian government plans to raise the import duty on steel. This follows the petition filed by local steel makers on the backdrop of surging steel shipments from China.

The Ministry had initiated detailed discussions on the issue, which are now at its final stages. Narendra Singh Tomar, Steel and Mines Minister stated that a final decision on this matter is likely to be taken in the next two to three days. However, he refused to comment on the rate of duty hike. Currently, duty on imported steel into the country varies from 5% to 7.5%.

The Indian Steel Association had recently urged the Ministry to intervene on the spiraling steel imports from China, causing severe damage to domestic industry. Several domestic mills had also written letters to the Ministry, stating that dumping of steel products from China had been adversely affecting their business margins.

Incidentally, steel imports from China during the initial six months of current fiscal doubled when compared with previous fiscal. The steel imports from China jumped 108% year-on-year to 1.34 million tonnes during April-September this year. The slowdown in domestic demand has forced many Chinese firms to boost their exports. Bulk of Chinese steel is exported to Asian region, especially to countries like India and Japan.

The country’s steel industry currently runs at 80% of capacity. The government also considers boosting domestic steel production, which in turn may alleviate the country’s over-dependence on steel imports.