Indian domestic ferroalloy producers have communicated to the Ministry of Steel seeking lowering of import duties on critical inputs since the country is heavily import dependent, an official with Indian Ferro Alloys Producers’ Association (LFAPA) said on Wednesday, September 26.
He said that domestic ferroalloy producers have sought the Ministry of Steel’s intervention seeking scrapping of 2.5 percent import duties applicable on manganese ore and chrome ore and removal of the antidumping duty of $25/mt on coke imports.
He said that domestic steel mills are heavily dependent on imported ferroalloys from South Africa and Australia at much higher prices while domestic ferroalloy producers are unable to either ramp up domestic production or be cost competitive vis-à-vis imports given high cost of imported inputs.
Total Indian domestic production capacity of ferroalloy is estimated at 5 million mt per year.