Govt proposes anti-dumping duty on imported steel

The Govt of India proposed an antidumping and safeguard duty on imported steel. The announcement came as a blow to the consumers of imported steel. The government had earlier put off taking a decision when the industry made a demand earlier for 25% safeguard duty on hot-rolled coils. The opinion in the government then was that the domestic industry did not have enough ground and consumer-industries too opposed any prohibitive duty on the ground it will deprive them of cheaper inputs. The can manufacturing industry in India is very dependent on imported steel for catering to the local market. The domestic tin packaging industry needs about 400,000 metric tons of tinplate, and the domestic availability is only about 60%. Hence it has to import tinplate from several countries mainly Europe and U.S. amongst others.Air Jordan