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A few years ago these mills were all either ingot-based or scrap-based and the RINL authorities had advised them to convert the mills into billet-based ones and each mill had invested nearly Rs 2-4 crore for the purpose.

Visakhapatnam , Sept. 9

THE Coastal Andhra Steel Re-rollers' Association has urged the authorities of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (Vizag steel plant) to reduce the rates of billets, as they are unable to procure the required raw material from RINL at current rates and have stopped production since August 23.

At a press meet here on Tuesday, the association President, Mr Ved Prakash Sarma, and the Secretary, Mr Vijay Goel, said the steel plant authorities had hiked the rates steeply this year and during the past six months or so, the rates of billets had risen by more than Rs 3,000 per tonne. At present, the steel plant was selling billets to them at Rs 16,800 per tonne and they were incurring roughly Rs 3,000 for converting them into secondary products such as bars, rounds, flats, squares and angles used in construction. But the secondary products were only fetching Rs 18,500 or so per tonne and therefore the steel re-rollers were incurring a loss of roughly Rs 1,300 or so per tonne.

``We are, therefore, unable to continue production and have stopped running the mills, numbering 14, from Srikakulam to Vijayawada which are solely dependent on the steel plant for the raw material,'' they said. A few years ago these mills were all either ingot-based or scrap-based and the steel plant authorities had advised them to convert the mills into billet-based ones and each mill had invested nearly Rs 2-4 crore for the purpose. ``In the past, the RINL authorities were considerate and whenever the prices of the secondary products dipped, they used to cut the prices of billets too. But, of late, they are indifferent to the plight of re-rollers and representations have proved to be of no avail,'' they complained.

Mr Sarma and Mr Goel said the 14 mills were buying billets worth Rs 350 crore or so per annum from RINL and they deserved a better deal from the steel plant authorities.

Quoting the Steel Ministry's remarks, Mr Braja Kishore Tripathi, they said the Ministry had clearly instructed the public sector undertakings like RINL ``to avoid frequent and interim price increases and follow a transparent policy''. The Minister had stressed the importance of taking care of the interests of consumers of steel besides protecting the small and medium enterprises, they said. As 5,000 workers were dependent on these mills, and the mills had no other source of supply, they urged the RINL authorities to reconsider the matter and reduce the prices of billets to enable the resumption of production.

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