Saturday, May 21, 2005
Indian Steel Alliance Call for duty hike to blunt steel import edge
The Telegraph - Calcutta : Business
The Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) has demanded an increase in duty to safeguard against cheap import of steel.
Domestic prices of hot-rolled coils (HRC) is about $550 a tonne compared with an average landed cost of imported steel at $470 a tonne.
There has been a 33 per cent increase in imports of steel products, which was over 2 million tonnes in 2004-05, in the last one year and a 100 per cent jump in the last two years.
The situation has worsened since March with the glut of stockpile in the European and US markets. Imports of HRC have almost doubled from then, averaging around 1.2 lakh tonnes a month in April.
More than 50 per cent of the cheap imports of HRC are originating from CIS, Russia, Ukraine and Romania. They are reaching India through the Mumbai port.
The average landed prices from CIS is even lower than the prices in the US and Europe, which is $540 a tonne and $500 a tonne, respectively.
The Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) has demanded an increase in duty to safeguard against cheap import of steel.
Domestic prices of hot-rolled coils (HRC) is about $550 a tonne compared with an average landed cost of imported steel at $470 a tonne.
There has been a 33 per cent increase in imports of steel products, which was over 2 million tonnes in 2004-05, in the last one year and a 100 per cent jump in the last two years.
The situation has worsened since March with the glut of stockpile in the European and US markets. Imports of HRC have almost doubled from then, averaging around 1.2 lakh tonnes a month in April.
More than 50 per cent of the cheap imports of HRC are originating from CIS, Russia, Ukraine and Romania. They are reaching India through the Mumbai port.
The average landed prices from CIS is even lower than the prices in the US and Europe, which is $540 a tonne and $500 a tonne, respectively.
