Stainless steel imports spike 25 pc to 2.3 LT in Apr-Aug.

NEW DELHI: Imports of stainless steel, mainly used for making utensils and kitchen appliances, jumped 25 per cent in the first five months of this fiscal to 2.3 lakh tonnes (LT), industry body ISSDA said.

The in-bound shipments of the metal stood at 1.84 MT in the April-August period of 2015-16, data provided by the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) showed.

The spike in imports is in line with those in the last financial year when the shipments into the country rose by over 24 per cent to 5.32 LT in 2015-16 against 4.28 LT in the 2014-15 fiscal.

ISSDA has approached the government in this regard to check the spate of cheap imports flooding the domestic market from China and other countries.

ISSDA President K K Pahuja told PTI: "The stainless steel imports have reached at a distressing stage now, if remedial policy actions are not implemented right away by the government, the already ailing domestic industry will perish."

It is important to note that imports constitute over 25 per cent of the domestic market. Existing Basic Customs duty of 7.5 per cent on imports has been ineffective in curbing the imports and on the other hand circumvention of anti-dumping duty has failed to check imports into the country, he added.

"The government must increase the basic customs duty on stainless steel products at par with carbon steel at 12.5 per cent at least," Pahuja said.

In August this year alone, imports have hit a record around 70,000 tonnes, which is very concerning, he added.

The industry body says that stainless steel flat product imports have hit a record 5.32 LT in 2015-16, which is 25 per cent of the total domestic demand of about 24 LT. Since 2011-12 (3.07 LT) inbound shipments have grown by 50 per cent.

India produces about 30 LT of stainless steel, which is mainly used in kitchen-related products followed by process industry, engineering, automobiles, railways and buildings.

Of the 5.32 LT imports in last fiscal, 50 per cent came from China alone. Imports from China have grown over two-fold to 2.77 LT in 2015-16 from 1.13 LT in 2013-14.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com