India’s Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), the national representative body for engineering goods exporters, has approached India’s Ministry of Commerce submitting that the high domestic price of steel is directly responsible for making Indian exports uncompetitive in the global market and demanding that the government provide a mechanism under which steel supplies could be offered at international benchmarked prices to medium and small-scale engineering exporters, an official at the EEPC stated on Monday, February 18.
The official said that the EEPC finds it surprising that domestic steel mills are unwilling to supply just one percent of their production or about 1 million mt of steel to medium and small-scale engineering goods exporters at international prices.
In fact, in its submission to the Ministry of Commerce, the EEPC demanded that, if supplies of steel to exporters could not be offered at international prices, the government should immediately set up a steel industry regulator to monitor domestic steel prices and tackle unbridled price increases in the domestic market.
The EEPC also stated its opposition to the move by domestic steel mills to pressure the government into imposing a minimum import price (MIP) which, coupled with the antidumping duty and safeguard duties already in place for several steel product imports, would severely impact steel-based engineering product exports from India, the association said in its representation.