IPF has been demanding export duty on polymers and lobbying for excise duty cut on polymers and plastic products.
IPF president K K Seksaria said polymer prices rose almost 50 per cent in three months, hitting small and medium players.
At a meeting chaired by the principal secretary of the department of chemicals and petrochemicals, C V Sampat, in Delhi today, polymer makers including Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) promised to give priority to domestic buyers.
India is a net importer of polyethelene and therefore technically exports are illogical. HPL exported around 60,000 tonnes of polyethylene of a grade not used in the domestic market, while it sold 280,000 tonnes locally.
RIL and HPL both produce and export polyethelene and polypropylene. RIL is setting up a 900,000t per annum plant at Jamnagar this year.
On the other hand, the petrochemicals department is considering whether to allow the import of post-industrial scrap and is talking to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) about this, Seksaria said.
The finance and petrochem ministries are also discussing a mid-year correction of import duty on naphtha, re-imposed in the 2008 budget.
