Indian government is considering a further cut in import duty on various steel products, as domestic steel prices have touched an all-time high, hitting MSMEs or end-user industries during the pandemic, as per local media.
In the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had imposed an anti-dumping duty (ADD) and countervailing duty (CVD) on certain steel products while reducing import duty uniformly to 7.5 per cent on semis, flat, and long products of non-alloy, alloy, and stainless steels, from 10-12.5pc. On steel scrap, import duty was removed to provide relief to IF and EAF in the scrap-based market.
Industry leaders believe that steel demand is quite strong in international and domestic market. However, they expect moderation in domestic demand in this first quarter of FY22 due to lockdowns resulting from spike in COVID-19 cases.
Indian HRC and rebar prices jumped over 80pc and 50pc, respectively, in the last one year.
Primary mills’ rebar prices are at around Rs54,000-54,500/mt ($735-741/mt) ex-Chennai and Rs55,000-55,500/mt ($750-756/mt) ex-Mumbai following a hike in early-May.
($1=Rs73.42)