Minister HD Kumaraswamy welcomes decision of 12 pc safeguard duty on imported steel flat products

Synopsis
India has imposed a temporary 12% safeguard duty on imported steel flat products to protect domestic manufacturers from unfair competition, following the US's imposition of tariffs on steel imports. This measure, effective immediately for 200 days, targets non-alloy and alloy steel flat products, primarily aimed at preventing steel dumping from countries like China.
The notification of the finance ministry says the 12 per cent duty on imports to India will be applicable only on "Non-Alloy and Alloy steel flat products". The decision is taken mainly to prevent dumping of steel in India.
"The safeguard duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of two hundred days (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification," said the notification issued by the finance ministry.
The finance ministry notification has set the import prices between USD 675 per tonne to USD 964 per tonne for the five steel product categories. Any shipment imported below these import prices would attract the safeguard duty of 12 per cent effective April 21.
The product categories attracting safeguard duty includes Hot Rolled coils, sheets and plates; Hot Rolled Plate Mill Plates; Cold Rolled Coils and Sheets; Metallic Coated Steel Coils and Sheets; and Colour Coated coils and sheets, whether or not profiled.
Big domestic steel manufacturers were in favour of imposing additional duty but the steel user industry was strongly opposed to it, as the safeguard duty will push raw material prices up, impacting their competitiveness.
Exporters from the MSME sectors from the engineering sector have earlier said that any move to impose additional duties on steel imports would make domestic products uncompetitive and impact the country's outbound shipments from the sector.
Safeguard duties are imposed to provide a level-playing field to domestic industry in case of sudden and significant increase in imports of a product. The measure is used when imports of a particular product increase unexpectedly to a point that they cause or threaten to cause serious impact to domestic producers.
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