Indian Steel Ministry to Consider Pleas by Domestic Sector for Minimum Import Price

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Indian Ministry of Steel is likely to consider pleas by domestic steel producers to impose minimum import price (MIP) on steel products. Various steelmakers, in a meeting held on February 6^th, had requested the Indian government to impose MIP on all steel products, in an attempt to curb rising steel imports from countries including Indonesia.

The meeting by major domestic steel producers including JSW Steel and the state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had noted that the steel imports have witnessed dramatic surge during recent months. This, coupled with rising raw material costs, puts pressure on operating margins, they noted. Under these circumstances, the meeting urged the Indian Ministry to enforce MIP on all steel products as it did in February 2016. During that time, the country had imposed MIP on a number of steel products with a sunset clause of one year, which in turn led to drastic reduction in imports.

According to Ministry official, the demand will be considered and action, if necessary, would be taken after careful examination of the situation.

The latest trade data published by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) indicates that finished steel imports by the country recorded growth by 1.5% over the year to 6.55 million tonnes (Mt) during the April ’18-January ’19. The country was a net importer of finished steel during this period. The imports during January 2019 skyrocketed by more than 79% to 638,000 tonnes, when compared with January 2018 imports.