The government was mulling levying a safeguard duty of up to 15 per cent on certain steel items to protect the domestic industry against cheap imports from countries such as China and Ukraine, official sources said.
Endorsing the industry’s concern that the surge in steel import was affecting the domestic market, the government has initiated an investigation and will soon decide on the quantum of safeguard duty to be levied on products such as hot-rolled (HR) coils, sheet and strips, a government official said.
“The safeguard investigation has been initiated for HR coils and a few other steel products. If recommended, the duty could be in the range of 10 to 15 per cent,” he added. The products, for which investigation has been started, are mainly used by sectors such as automobile and infrastructure.
Two private producers — Essar Steel and Ispat — had filed a petition for imposing safeguard duty and the same was supported by SAIL and JSW Steel, sources in the Directorate General of Safeguards said.
The applicants along with supporting firms accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the country’s total steel production between April 2008 and February 2009.
The companies said there has been a steep increase in the import of steel items from countries such as China from April 2008 to February 2009, leading to a decline in their sales volumes and capacity utilisation of the plants.
