Steel prices peaked in 2008: Minister

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IBNS) Minister of Steel Beni Prasad Verma has said that the price of steel in the domestic market was at its peak during April to July 2008.

During the last three years, the price of steel items in the domestic market has been fluctuating in accordance with the domestic market conditions, international steel market prices and price movement in raw material in the international market.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday, he said, the price of steel in the country is deregulated and is decided by the individual producers based on various market conditions, such as demand supply scenario, movement in international steel market prices, cost of raw materials and other input costs.

Considering the increasing steel demand in the domestic market, Government has taken various fiscal steps to maintain a steady supply position in the domestic market and also to boost steel production in the country, he said.

These are:

(i) Import duty on raw material such as coking coal and Steel Melting Scrap is NIL.

(ii) Export duty of 20% has been imposed on export of all grades and varieties of iron ore (except pellets).

(iii) Import duty on Steel items is 5 to 10%.

Verma said the total domestic consumption of iron ore (including both private sector and public sector steel plants) during 2010-11 was estimated as 111.4 million tonnes.

The production of iron ore in the country is about double the consumption of iron ore by the domestic iron & steel industry and therefore is sufficient to meet the present requirement of iron ore by the steel sector in the country.

However, Ministry of Steel is of the view that iron ore, being a non-renewable natural resource, should be conserved for long term utilization of domestic steel industry.

The Government has decided that conservation of iron ore resources of the country should be achieved not by banning or capping the export of iron ore but by taking recourse to appropriate fiscal measures, he said.

Presently, an export duty of 20% ad valorem is levied on iron ore of all grades and varieties (except pellets).