Monday, February 14,
The domestic steel industry requested the government to cut down import duty to nil from 5% and impose duty on HR coils to control inflation.* Steel prices shooting up by over 30% in the last two months, on fears of possible increase in coal prices from major producing nation Australia.
“Steel manufacturers have increased prices by 30% in the last two months anticipating that Australia may hike the coke price in view of the recent floods that impacted its coal mines,” The All India Confederation of Small & Micro Industries Association President Sudarshan Sareen said.
There is no reason for the Indian steel producers to effect a hefty Rs 9,000 per tonne increase in prices in January and February 2011. Even the public sector SAIL has become a party to this steep increase in steel prices, which is only adding to the current inflationary trends, Sareen said.
Industrial output dipped to a 20-month low of 1.6% in December from 18% in the same month in 2009.
As per the World Steel Association, India is seen to be emerging as the world’s third-biggest steel consumer after China and the United States. India consumed and procured about 60 million tonnes of steel this year.
Indian steel consumption is seen more than doubling to 122 million tonnes in 2015 on robust investment and infrastructure demand. An uncalled hike in steel prices would have a major impact on products, Sareen said.
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