India’s ministry of steel has opposed the move to check imports of low ash metallurgical coke through quantitative restrictions, government sources said on Thursday, June 6.
In response to complaints lodged by domestic met coke producers, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended imposition of quantitative import restrictions aggregating to 2.85 million mt per year.
Though the DGTR recommendation has not been followed up as yet with any formal notification giving effect to the quantitative restriction, the ministry of steel has stated that domestic demand for met coke could not be met solely by domestic producers and also there are concerns over the quality of locally produced met coke.
Sources said that the ministry of steel has pointed out that implementing the recommendation of the DGTR would disrupt the supply chain and impact production of user industries in steel manufacturing, apart from raising the cost of production of steel.