The Indian government has set up a committee under the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to look into the request of engineering exporters who are seeking steel supplies at globally benchmarked prices for export production, a senior government official said on Monday, May 13.
The official said that the committee to be led by officials of the DGFT will comprise representatives from engineering product export industries and major steel consumers, steel producing companies, and officials of India’s steel and commerce ministries.
The engineering exporters represented by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) have long been demanding that domestic steel producers supply material at global prices to the local engineering industry so that their end-products for export will remain competitive in the international markets when the global trading environment becomes challenging, the official said.
The EEPC has maintained that Indian steel producers are exporting steel at prices lower than their domestic sales prices, thereby providing a competitive edge to engineering manufacturers overseas at the expense of the domestic engineering industry, and hence it states that the Indian government should create a mechanism for supplying domestic steel at international prices, the official added.
As a result, a decision for a DGFT committee to explore viabilities and options for domestic steel supplies at international prices for export production was taken last week at an inter-stakeholders meeting, the official said.