Indian stainless steel importers and end-users have urged India's prime minister Manmohan Singh and the commerce minister Kamal Nath to immediately roll back the antidumping investigation initiated against the imports of cold rolled flat products of stainless steel originating from various countries including China, Europe, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA based on a complaint filed by a stainless steel manufacturer in the country.
Commenting on the antidumping investigations, secretary of the Process Plant & Machinery Association of India, Mr. V. P. Ramachandran, said, "More than 5,000 stainless steel utensil and cutlery manufacturing and exporting units employing about 300,000 workers across the country are facing closure as they have been severely hit by the recession and uncertainty over antidumping duty investigation against stainless steel, the basic raw material, initiated by the ministry of commerce with the request of a couple of local manufacturers."
Meanwhile, Mr. Paresh Mehta, secretary of the All India Stainless Steel Industries Association (AISSIA), said, "Due to uncertainty created by the antidumping investigation, we are not booking further orders and are also canceling orders. The antidumping duty investigation in question has no meaning as we import high end stainless steel not manufactured in India which includes width of 1,250 mm and higher, which are needed in some cases of specialized applications for fabrication jobs of hotel and catering equipment. This necessitates our members to import stainless steel as per customers' demand."
Mr Mehta added "The Indian stainless steel industry has a poor range of products with the near monopoly of one producer and so small-scale firms need to import value added alloy to compete globally. Moreover, imports of stainless steel flat products take place in those grades and sizes which the domestic industry does not manufacture .Most of the stainless steel product manufacturing units are situated in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi."