Indian engineering goods exporters have sought government intervention to ensure availability of domestic steel at prices equivalent to export prices charged by Indian steel mills, members of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said on Tuesday, January 16.
The EEPC members said that, with Indian steel exports showing a rising trend, up 53 percent during the April-December period of 2017, Indian steel mills are pushing higher volumes overseas, pricing products at least 20-25 percent lower than domestic prices of equivalent steel products.
The EEPC initiated a study to establish more definitive details on the domestic and export pricing of Indian steel mills, following which the findings of the study will be shared with the Ministry of Commerce, the members said.
The engineering exporters said that they appreciated that it will not be practical for the Indian government to set an export price for steel products from the country that steel mills could use as a benchmark, considering that the industry operated in a free pricing regime. The EEPC will seek government intervention to at least ensure that steel required by capital goods manufacturers for production for export is available at the same price at which steel mills are shipping products overseas, the members said.