Union Budget 2015: India to raise import duty on Steel by 5 percentage points from April 1

Mar 02, 2015 01:35 GMT   Source:Scrap Register

Tags: India steel import,  India steel import duty

INDIA February 28 2015 5:50 PM   MUMBAI (Scrap Register): Indian government is raising the import duty on steel by 5 percentage points from April 1this year to stem a flow of cheap supplies from China and Russia.   “Indian government would raise the tariff to 15 percent from 10 percent,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget for the next fiscal year.    The move will help local companies that were fast losing their market share in the world's fourth largest producer of the alloy. India will also raise the import tax on metallurgical coal to 5 percent from 2.5 percent.    Despite sluggish demand of finished steel and low levels of billet prices, steel scrap prices have firmed up this week as Turkish steel mills are running low on their scrap inventories and are looking to buy prompt cargoes amid limited available volumes giving a chance to sellers to hike their offers    The historical trend of surge in steel scrap levels during winters, which did not happen this December, seems to have emerged now as the low price levels deterred the collection resulting in scarce availability now.