"This order (imposing duty) comes into effect immediately and a notification in this regard has been issued. This duty will be applicable for a period of 200 days, during which period the inquiry would be completed by Directorate General of Safeguards," the Minister said.
The duty will apply on specified categories of steel from all countries, he said, adding "over the last few weeks there has been a sudden surge of steel import into the country and therefore DG Safeguard has embarked upon an inquiry."
The duty, he said, will apply to all imports coming from anywhere in the world.
The DG Safeguards earlier recommended imposition of a 20 per cent safeguard duty on certain steel products to protect interests of the domestic industry. The proposal was approved by the Board of Safeguards.
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Safeguard duty is a WTO-compatible temporary measure that is brought in for a certain timeframe to avert any damage to a country's domestic industry from cheap imports.
Domestic steel producers had complained of a surge in imports of steel products like hot-rolled steel and other variants from China, Korea, Japan and Russia.
The three players, representing 50 per cent of the domestic production, had moved DGS for imposition of the levy on imports of hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of width of 600 mm or more for four years.