India might increase import duty to curb China's steel 'dumping'

Alarmed by the "dumping" from China, the steel ministry today pressed for raising the import duty to protect the domestic industry.

"The steel industry and the government, both are worried over dumping from China. We have discussed increasing the import duty with the Finance Minister, and we hope that we will get favourable results," Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told a press conference here.

The steel imports from China in April-January 2014-15 rose to 2.9 million tonnes (MT) against 1.08 MT for the entire 2013-14.

During the same period, carbon steel imports from the neighbour stood at 1.52 MT while stainless/alloy steel imports came in at 1.37 MT.

Steel imports went up cumulatively to 8.38 MT in April-February 2014-15, registering a whopping 67.3% rise over the same period last fiscal.

In the Budget 2015-16, the government has opened up the possibility of increasing import duty for finished and semi-finished steel to 15% from 10%, designed to shielding home-grown firms from rising imports.

The Commerce Ministry has already recommended an anti-dumping duty of up to $316 per tonne on imports of a certain variety of steel from China, Korea and Malaysia.

However, Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai had earlier clarified that the government is not planning a ban on steel imports.