India’s Ministry of Steel is unlikely to make any further recommendation for the extension of the minimum import price (MIP) after its current extension expires on February 4, official sources from the Ministry of Steel said on Friday, January 13. The final decision will jointly come from the steel and commerce ministries.
The sources pointed out that the Ministry of Steel is unlikely to make any recommendation for further extension of the import protection measure to the Ministry of Commerce, which in the past few months has several times clarified that import protection to domestic steel mills was temporary and the government could not afford to offer such protection perpetually.
The sources said that, in many steel product categories, antidumping duties have been imposed and this has offered a protection which is more compatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO) for domestic mills.
At the same time, the continued extension of the MIP would offer new challenges to the Ministry of Commerce against India’s major steel trading partners like Japan and South Korea, which have already applied to the WTO in opposition to India’s protectionist measures for its domestic steel industry, the sources added.
In February 2016, India imposed the MIP on 173 steel product categories and has periodically extended the protection, with the last extension ending next month.