While, Met Coke producers in India rejoice on the imposition of Anti Dumping Duty on imports of the material into India, steel makers in the country bemoan as it is going to further erode their financials.
The Government of India (GoI), with effect from 25Nov’16, has imposed Anti Dumping Duty on imports of the material from China and Australia at the rate of USD 25.20/MT and USD 16.29/MT respectively for a five year period.
The duty has been imposed to safeguard the domestic industry from the onslaught of the intense dumping of the product by sellers in the two countries.
Taking the initial step for protecting the domestic industry, the Indian Metallurgical Coke Manufacturers’ Association had submitted a petition to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Dec’15 requesting imposition of the duty on the imports. The association had alleged in the petition that sellers in the two countries were exporting the product at prices even lower than the cost of production in India. The Indian Met Coke industry suffered heavy losses as a result, the association claimed.
Responding to the petition, the Commerce and Industry Ministry had conducted an investigation, the result of which substantiated the association’s claim. Subsequently, the ministry recommended imposition of the duty to the Finance Ministry, which eventually responded in the affirmative, levying the duty.
Indian Met Coke producers have welcomed the duty as it is expected to bring in the much needed relief. While, steel producers have contended that imposition of the duty will raise prices of finished steel products by INR 700-1,100 per ton.
Met Coke, used to smelt iron ore and other associated materials in Blast Furnaces, acts as a heat source as well as a chemical reducing agent for producing pig iron or hot metal. As a matter of fact, 0.7 ton of Met Coke is required for producing 1 ton of steel.
Indian steel producers also have demanded removing import duty on Met Coke imports from the prevailing 5% to reduce financial burden.
Source: CoalMint Research
On the other hand, Met Coke exports from India stood remarkably low at 0.102 MT in FY15. The export quantity was also significantly low at 1.2 MT in FY13.
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