The devaluation of the Chinese currency has forced the Indian government to reverse its earlier stand and consider imposing antidumping (AD) duties on ex-China steel imports, an official at India’s Ministry of Steel said on Monday, August 17.
Earlier this month, the government had stated that it was against offering further protection for local steel mills considering the opposition from the engineering industry which was complaining of higher costs of imported steel as input for engineering product manufacturing and exports, the official said. However, the devaluation of the Chinese currency has forced the steel ministry to reconsider its stand and it has communicated its concern over heightened competition to the Ministries of Commerce and Finance, the official added.
The government thinks that fresh measures are required to protect the domestic steel industry following the devaluation of the RMB and relevant agencies including the Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) have been directed to work out duties which are expected to be put into force within the next one month, the official said.
On August 12, the Indian government for the second time increased import duties on steel products to 12.5 percent from 10 percent announced in June.