Margins under pressure, steel industry seeks ban on exports of raw material

With increased domestic iron ore and pellet prices hurting the secondary steel producers, industry has written to the Prime Minister Office (PMO) asking for a ban on exports of the key raw material used in the making of steel.

The domestic secondary steel industry contributes nearly 55 per cent to the total production of the alloy in the country. These players produce steel through the electrical route unlike the primary steel producers who use blast furnaces to make the alloy. The All India Induction Furnace Association wrote the letter to the PMO on September 25.

There are more than 2,000 secondary steel