FIMI Urges Government to Revisit Steel Protectionist Measures

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) urged the government to reconsider the protectionist measures earlier announced by it with the aim of protecting domestic steel industry and the domestic steel manufacturers. The miners’ body alleged that the local steel companies are taking undue advantage of the situation.

According to them, the domestic steel players are found fixing steel prices that nearly matches with international prices, despite incentives and safeguards. Over the past six months, the domestic steel prices in the country have skyrocketed by almost 55%, noted General R K Sharma, Secretary General, FIMI, in a letter addressed to Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The prices surged higher by almost 6 times over the past two months.

In the letter, FIMI urged the Central government to withdraw 15% import duty on steel products into the country. The steel industry in the country receives high grade ore at comparatively lower prices. However, the industry takes international steel prices as the base for fixing domestic prices. Moreover, many large steel manufacturers own captive iron ore mines, which make the raw material procurement much easier and cost-effective. Consequently, steel manufacturers are in a position to offer steel at much competitive price, FIMI said.

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