The Indian government has commenced inter-ministerial consultations to increase import duties on steel products, for incorporation in the federal budget 2015-16 schedule to be placed before the parliament at the end of February, a senior government official told SteelOrbis on Monday, January 12.
The ministry of steel has prepared a paper based on recent steel import data and inputs from various local steel mills including JSW Steel, to offer increased tariff protections to the domestic steel industry, the official said.
Although the rate of the hike in import duty is yet to be determined, the current duty ranging from five percent to 7.5 percent will be increased sufficiently to check rising imports particularly for flat products from China.
According to data compiled by Joint Plant Committee (JPC), a steel industry think-tank under the ministry of steel, in the April-September period of 2014 imports of steel products from China were up 150 percent over the corresponding period of 2013 and on average these shipments were 28 percent cheaper than local products, even including current import duties.
The steel ministry noted that non-tariff barriers imposed recently had failed to sufficiently check imports of cheap steel products into the country.
Through a notification issued on November 7, 2014,
India's finance ministry banned imports of specific steel products including rebar and alloy steel bars which did not have certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards.
India, the fourth largest steel producer in the world, imported a total of 6.51 million mt of steel during the April-December period of 2014, with its exports pegged at 4.06 million mt during the same period.