Industry & Economy
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Steel
Secondary steel industry wants import duty cut further
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
Feb. 25
THE secondary steel industry is not satisfied with the Government's move to bring down import duty by just five per cent. They feel it is too little and more should have been done.
"A reduction of five per cent is not sufficient to ensure the export competitiveness of Indian industry and the reduction of its high project and infrastructure costs. Indeed, the prices of unfinished steel products produced in India, which use iron ore and steel as major inputs, would continue to remain expensive both in domestic and global markets. In fact, the quantum of duty reduction is too little, too late," said Mr Ravi Mohan, President of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
According to Mr N.C. Mathur, Chairman of the Steel Furnace Association of India, "The cut will only have a marginal impact and stabilise domestic prices for a short time. This duty cut is not a solution as international steel prices continue to be high."
"The export of raw materials like iron ore should be curbed in order to facilitate steel producers in India. The export of iron ore to countries like China may be on terms to get metcoke," he said.
According to Mr S.C. Mathur, Executive Director of the Cold Rolled Steel Manufacturers of India, "The reduction is not sufficient as global prices are very high at around $530 per tonne c.i.f., and not workable. There is a huge scarcity of hot-rolled coil due to heavy shortfall in production by the major producers to the extent of 1.5 million tonnes and import at economic prices are necessary to meet the requirement of the industry."
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