Steel makers seek more govt measures to curb rising imports

New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) Steel makers have urged the government for more measures to check rising imports from select group of countries including China which has produced 746.3 MT of crude steel in January-September period, over six-fold of the domestic output.

As per global body World Steel Association (worldsteel), India has produced 122.4 MT of crude steel in January-September. While in September alone China has produced 73.5 MT of crude steel, over 5-fold higher from 13.6 MT of domestic production.

As per market data, stainless steel is also unable to reach 100 per cent capacity utilisation of the total installed capacity of 7.5 million tonnes. It remains around 60 per cent only due to impact of imports.

The government has taken several measures to curb the imports to protect the competitiveness of domestic steel industry.

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Steel has come up with more than 100 quality control orders (QCOs) which refrain from non-BIS compliant steel products to enter the Indian market.

The QCO of June this year had put restrictions on even import of inputs of certain steel products.

"The validity of QCOs can be extended to avoid sub standard and cheap materials from entering the country," an industry player said.

The government can come up with more similar measures to protect the domestic industry, both steel and stainless steel, which looks make crores of investment to increase capacity to meet future demand in line with Atmanirbhar initiative of the government, said the industry player.

In March, the commerce ministry's investigation arm DGTR had recommended the imposition of a 12 per cent provisional safeguard duty for 200 days on certain steel products with an aim to protect domestic players from a surge in imports.

After this stainless industry also approached the government to investigate stainless steel imports as the safeguard duty did not cover their concerns.

A high level committee of NITI Aayog is likely to meet steel industry leaders next week over the issue of import, a source said.

As per BigMint data, domestic steel prices slumped to a five-year low in October, impacted by multiple factors, including surging imports.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has flagged a surge in steel imports, largely driven by lower import prices. It has also called for policy support to boost the competitiveness of domestic steel production.

In September this year, India imported 0.79 million tonnes (MT) of finished steel, up from 0.69 MT in August, marking the country's sixth consecutive month as a net steel importer.

Imports from Korea, Russia, and Indonesia increased, while shares of China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan declined compared with September 2024.

During the first half of FY26, India remained a net importer of steel, with inbound shipments exceeding exports by 0.47 MT. This is despite a 40 per cent rise in export volumes to 4.43 MT. PTI ABI HVA