The Indian government has turned down a request from local steel mills to fix a floor price for imports from China, Japan and South Korea, a senior steel ministry official said on Wednesday, November 25. The mills suggested that the imports in question are dumped and that the safeguard duty has failed to prevent the flow of imported steel products into India.
However, the Indian government conveyed to the steel mill representatives that fixing a minimum price for imports would harm steel-using industries, stating that it is the responsibility of the government to balance the often conflicting interests of steel producers and users in terms of market-determined prices, the official said.
The ministry stated that price fixing by the government would go against the market-determined pricing regime in the domestic market, adding that instead local steel mills need to improve their cost competitiveness.
The steel companies represented included Tata Steel, JSW Limited, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), among others.