All India Stainless Steel Industries Association, the apex body of stainless steel utensils and cutlery manufacturers in India, has written a letter to directorate general of Anti Dumping & Allied Duties, Ministry of Commerce & Industry against initiating probe and levying of anti dumping duty on import of stainless steel coils of 1250mm and above, as it will affect the industry adversely in a big way.
Mr Badri Baldawa president of AISSIA said that "Currently more than 5000 small scale manufacturing units of stainless steel utensils, cutlery, knives and other household products employing more than 300,000 workers are dependent on imported stainless steel for their exports. These units are presently exporting their products worth INR 1800 crore from the country."
He added that "The domestic producer of stainless steel Jindal on who's request the Ministry of Commerce has initiated anti dumping probe on stainless steel does not make width of 1250mm and higher, which are needed is some cases of specialized applications for fabrication jobs of hotel and catering equipments. This necessitates our members to import stainless steel as per customer’s demands abroad."
Mr Baldawa said that "More over Jindal, the monopolistic manufacturer is not producing, magnetic type of stainless steel sheets. Many sophisticated countries insist on cookware of this grade as it is suitable for use in Induction cooking ranges. There is a big demand for a specialized grade of AISI 430 grade of stainless steel for the manufacture of cutlery suitable for commercial hotel dish washers. The buyers are very specific about their requirements."
Mr Paresh Mehta convener of export import committee at AISSIA said that "Jindal Stainless Ltd has not been able to satisfy the demands of making satisfactory quality of AISI 304 grade of Stainless Steel sheets for the manufacture of Pressure Cookers. Their material fails to meet the deep drawing requirements, gauge consistency and surface finish requirements of sophisticated products. The industry has to depend on imports to meet the needs of international buyers safety and quality products."
He added that "The industry has also laughed at the latest contention of Jindal Stainless that coils of 1250mm and wider coils are commercially and technically free substitutable and the industry can weld the small width coils to meet their needs for higher width. The contention is a big joke as industry has yet to develop technology to hide the deep drawn blanks formed by welding on stainless steel. Anti Dumping duties are meant to protect the domestic industry in cases where they are being hurt by unfair competition, but in cases where the domestic industry does not make those products, they have no right to ask for protection."
He said that "Industry has surged the ministry to immediately call off the anti dumping probe on stainless steel products and not to impose any duty on high grade stainless steel which is currently not being manufactured in the country."
Source : www.aissia.org