Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) today recommended imposition of a provisional safeguard duty of 20 per cent on certain category of imports with a view to protect domestic producers from surge in imports.
"A preliminary finding by the DG Safeguards, recommending imposition of provisional safeguard duty at the rate of 20 per cent for a period of 200 days, has been issued, for hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of a width of 600 mm or more", an official statement said.
The Finance Ministry will impose the duty once the findings of the DGS have been examined by the Board of Safeguards which is headed by Commerce Secretary, it added.
"If the Board agrees with the findings of the DG Safeguards, it shall recommend imposition of duty to the Finance Ministry. The safeguards duty is a global safeguards measure and shall apply to imports from all countries," the statement added.
The domestic steel producers, including SAIL, JSW Steel and Essar Steel, had complained of surge in imports of steel products like hot-rolled steel and other variants from China, Korea, Japan and Russia at a price lower than their domestic cost of production.
The domestic industry has been asking for higher levels of protection, including imposition of safeguards duties.
The DG Safeguards accordingly initiated investigation into alleged surge in imports after it found that "prima-facie increased imports of (certain kinds of steel) have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic producers". Its officers have also visited certain units for verifying the claims of the domestic industry.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is examining more steps to check dumping of steel to protect the industry deal with cheap imports of the metal.
"We are looking and seriously examining other steps so that sectorally we can address the problem which can be defensive against dumping of steel in the country," he said.
The government has twice increased tariffs on steel imports this year.
"As far as steel is concerned, we have to balance the interest of the consuming industry along with the steel manufacturing industry. It is an external issue. So we have marginally increased our tariffs twice," Jaitley said.
Last month, the government had hiked import duty on base metals, including iron and steel, by 2.5 per cent in a move aimed at helping domestic players battle cheap Chinese imports after the yuan devaluation.
Earlier in June, the government had raised the duty on some long and flat steel products by 2.5 per cent.
Besides, it imposed anti-dumping duty of up to USD 316 per tonne on imports of certain steel products from three countries -- China, Malaysia and Korea -- to protect domestic producers from below-cost inbound shipments.
