DG Safeguards Examines Steel for Action

The Directorate General of Safeguards is looking into the issue of imposing safeguard duty on steel imports, a top-ranking government official said on Friday.

“Some applications have been filed, and that is under consideration of the Directorate General of safeguards”, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters here.

The unchecked dumping of Chinese steel has been a major cause of concern for India’s steel and tyre manufacturing industries.

Last week, the government increased the import duty on select steel products by 2.5 percent, making it the second such hike within two months. BIS is already in action to control steel import through standards.

Following a steady upturn in cheap imports from China, the government in June increased import duty on steel products by 2.5 percent.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) said last month that small steel plants — below 0.5 million tonnes capacity — and unorganized sector steel units were closing down.

The report said: “Their market share is grabbed by large steel units and is reflected in increased long steel demand as reported by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC).

“Small long steel units cannot survive as their costs are higher than sales price by 7 percent.

“The status of tier-II flat steel mills and the established fact that cheap imports are causing price falls in India may lead to further import duty hike,” the report said.