India unlikely to impose safeguard duty on HR

23/05/2009 12:00 - 584 Views

It appears that the Indian government is unlikely to levy any safeguard duty on steel imports as demanded by industry leaders.

Mr PK Rastogi steel on the sideline of a steel seminar in Mumbai told reporters that companies were not fully prepared to advocate their case strongly.

Mr Rastogi added that “Above all, we need to protect our consumers’ interest which is the top priority of the government and hence, do not see any need for any safeguard duty, anti dumping duty of any such other levies.”

Mr Rastogi also mentioned the issue of cost of production by Indian steel mills in this regard.

Recently some Indian steel makers had sought government protection from dumping and proposed a 25% levy of safeguard duty on HR. The proposal was rejected by the government’s standing board members including secretaries of steel, commerce and revenue department. The standing board found no merit in the proposal and therefore, rejected the proposal.

Source: www.steelprices-china.com