Indian steel foundries are being forced to shut down operations under cost pressures with the price of coal doubling and a 45 percent increase in pig iron prices, the Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF) said in a statement on Thursday, November 11.
Citing an example, IIF said that most steel foundries in the western state of Gujarat have not resumed operations after festival holidays earlier this month, hit by an acute shortage of working capital and the inability to fund stocking of high-priced raw materials like pig iron and coal.
According to IIF, about 2,500 steel foundries are located in Gujarat with estimated cumulative installed capacity of 500,000 mt per month.
IIF has sought government intervention in reducing import duties on all inputs for production of steel castings and forgings to reduce the cost of production of foundries.
It has also suggested that steel foundries should implement monthly price revisions of their produce based on a national index of ferrous, non-ferrous and finished steel products and that customers of all foundries should prepare to accept such monthly price revisions.