Domestic flat steel market have remained stable this week due to anticipation of Minimum Import Price (MIP) on various semis and finished steel products.
Indian steel market is abuzz with the news of MIP to be imposed on 35-40 products of value chain including HRC, CRC, Pig iron, scrap etc. This has led to stability in domestic HRC and CRC prices this week, which had registered a fall of more than 25% since Jan’15.
Current offers for 2.5 mm (IS2062) HRC are assessed at INR 29,250/MT (ex-Mumbai) and INR 30,500/MT (ex-Delhi and ex-Chennai). While, offers for 0.9 mm CRC are assessed at INR 33,000/MT (ex-Mumbai), INR 33,500/MT (ex-Chennai), INR 33,500/MT (ex-Kolkata) and INR 35,000/MT (ex-Delhi). All prices include 12.5% excise.
In order to curb cheap HRC imports, Indian government imposed provisional safeguard duty of 20% on HRC in Sept’15. As the transit time for imports in India is two months, its effect was seen in November’s HRC import which registered a fall of about 30% in the month against Sept’15.
However, safeguard duty on HRC led to increase in import of other flat products such as CRC and plates. As per customs provisional data, CRC import increased by about 97% from 84,000 MT in Sept’15 to 1,65,569 MT in Nov’15. Thus, government is likely to introduce MIP on various steel products.
MIP is a price fixed by the government below which goods can not be imported into India. The government is also considering to impose safeguard duty on HR plates and sheets, the investigation on which was initiated by DG Safeguards on 7 Dec’15.
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