Mumbai, Feb 21: Tata Steel CEO and Managing Director T.V. Narendran on Friday said the government is considering the steel industry’s request for the imposition of anti-dumping duties very seriously as cheap Chinese imports are flooding the Indian market and the situation looks even grimmer in the wake of a possible hike in US tariffs.
Narendran said he is hopeful that the government will soon issue an update on the issue after detailed clarifications received from the industry. The Indian Steel Association (ISA) has already filed an application with the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) on the dumping issue which is under review.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Narendra said India is one of the best places in the world to produce steel and the Indian steel industry has built very modern and efficient steel plants. The country was also endowed with a lot of iron ore reserves.
However, the issue is the low price that foreign entities are willing to sell steel. He pointed out that the profitability of the Chinese steel industry, is pretty much negative and most of these state-owned companies were losing money.
However, in India, the steel industry is mostly private-dominated and unless it is profitable, the companies will not invest in new capacity, he added. Narendran said that Tata Steel would be both directly and indirectly hit if the US President goes ahead with his proposal for hiking tariffs on imports.
He pointed out that Tata Steel also exports steel to the US market from its manufacturing facilities which would be directly impacted by a hike in tariffs. Besides, there would be an indirect impact as steel exports of countries such as China and Vietnam which get adversely impacted by the US tariff would end up depressing global prices which would have a bearing on the margins in India, he added.
India’s steel exports have dropped 28.9 per cent to 3.99 million tonnes during the April-January in the current financial year from 5.61 million tonnes in the same period of the previous financial year. India is currently a net importer of steel, with incoming shipments at 8.29 million tonnes during the April-January of financial year 2024-25, according to official data.
IANS