| Date: |
19-03-2016 |
| Subject: |
Exporters body cries foul on minimum import price on steel hitting small manufacturers |
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NEW DELHI: Almost a month after the government announced the minimum import price (MIP) for 173 steel products in a bid to curb the dumping of cheap steel by countries such as China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, exporters of small engineering goods such as auto components and cycle parts are crying foul.
According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO), exporters are already working on low margins and facing cut-throat competition and huge volatility in currency.
"The imposition of minimum import price resulting in increase in steel prices by 15% has further blunted the competitive edge of Indian engineering sector," FIEO president S C Rathan said. "The MIP imposed on 173 steel products covers roughly 80% of steel imports and thus impact engineering sector hugely," he said in a release.
It said that while engineering exports have declined by about 16% in the first 11 months of the current fiscal, auto and auto components, cycle and cycle parts, hand tools, industrial and electrical machineries are the worst sufferer.
Earlier, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India, too, had raised this concern and said that the introduction of the MIP on steel products will raise the cost of raw materials for engineering products by about 6-10%. "This will have a serious debilitating impact on engineering exports which have already declined by a huge 15% in the first nine months of the current fiscal," T S Bhasin, chairman of EEPC, had said.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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