| Date: |
25-11-2015 |
| Subject: |
Steel majors meet Sitharaman to discuss dumping issues, seek floor price on imports |
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NEW DELHI: Indian steel majors such as Tata Steel, JSW and Essar met commerce and industry minister Niramala Sitharaman on Tuesday to discuss issues arising out of dumping of steel by China, Japan and Korea and sought more measures to counter the flood of steel products.
The delegation, which also had members from SAIL and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, wanted the government to fix a floor price for steel imports as it alleged that domestic steel firms had no relief despite the government imposing safeguard duties in September, anti-dumping duty in June and raising import duty in August.
"The delegation said that China reduced steel prices by 40%, after India imposed a 20% safeguards duty on some imported steel products in September," said a commerce department official.
Citing the steel sector's outstanding debt at Rs 6 lakh crore, members of the delegation said the sector's previous quarter losses amounted to Rs 4,000 crore.
"However, the minister has asked these companies to substantiate the need for more support by data and asked them to work towards making the sector more competitive," the official said.
He added that Sitharaman told the delegation that the interest of the user industry has also to be balanced.
"The government has not given any immediate assurances to the steel companies due to lack of data," the official said.
In September, the government imposed a 20% safeguard duty on certain imported steel products for 200 days in order to check damage to India's domestic industry from cheaper import. In June, India imposed anti-dumping duty of up to $316 per tonne on import of certain steel products from three countries, including China, to protect domestic producers from below-cost inbound shipment. In August, the government had raised import duty on base metals, including iron and steel, by 2.5% to help domestic entities battle cheaper Chinese import after China devalued its currency.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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