Industry & Economy
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Steel
Strong domestic demand pushes up steel prices
Our Bureau
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New Delhi,
Feb. 27
Steel prices have shot up during the first three quarters of the current financial year mainly due to strong domestic demand and increase in cost of raw materials like zinc and ferro alloys, the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament said.
The price rise has been stronger in case of flat products where most of the key items saw marked price rise during October 2006 compared to the same month a year ago, the Survey said.
In order to ensure availability of steel and maintain stability in prices the Government reduced the customs duty on alloy/stainless steel and non-alloy steel items to 7.5 per cent and 5 per cent respectively with effect from April 2006. Customs duty on alloy and stainless steel was further reduced to 5 per cent from the fourth week of January 2007, the Survey pointed out.
Simultaneously the steel industry witnessed robust growth for the fourth consecutive year in 2006-07. During the April-December nine-month period, production of finished (carbon) steel increased by 9.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis to reach 35.65 million tonnes.
Additional capacities of four million tonnes have been commissioned during the year. The consumption of finished steel at 31.45 million tonnes was 9.8 per cent higher than that in the comparable period of the previous year.
Export of finished steel during the nine-month period grew by 10.9 per cent to 3.50 million tonnes, the Survey said.
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