The government should re-impose import duty on all categories of steel soon to
ward off the threat of cheaper shipments from countries like China amid the
global economic recession, Sail Chairman S K Roongta today said.
As
anti-dumping laws are there in India, the government should act swiftly and take
precaution to safeguard the domestic steel industry, Roongta told reporters on
the sidelines of a metal conference here.
Asked if Sail is
contemplating cutting production due to the slackening demand for steel, Roongta
said the company's output would be "market-oriented" and in accordance with the
demand.
Even as Roongta refrained giving a clear picture of the
production cut, Steel Secretary P K Rastogi had a couple of days back said that
the state-run steel behemoth may have to lower output for some of its products
as its offtake in October dipped by as much as 37%.
According to
industry experts, demand for steel in India has nosdived by over 30% in the last
few months, mainly on account of the slowdown and potential buyers putting off
purchases in anticipation of prices falling further.
As a fallout
of reducing demand for the commodity, steel producers have announced cutting
output by over 20%.
Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel has said it would
rationalise the product mix as per the current market conditions and modify the
production programme to reduce output by around 20% from November.
Ruias-promoted Essar Steel and Vinod Mittal-led Ispat Industries are
operating below optimum capacity.
Source : Business Standard