Steel firms to present status report on pricing to FM
VIVEK SINHA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2003 02:27:31 AM ]

NEW DELHI: The domestic steel companies are slated to meet the government to present a status report on the industry.

Significantly, the meeting has been planned just before the commencement of pre-Budget meetings of the finance ministry later this month. The issue of rising steel prices has been troubling steel consumers who have been lobbying for bringing down the import duty protection for the domestic steel producers.

The primary steel manufacturers, on the other hand, argue that the current rise in steel price is in-line with global cyclical upturn and the prices are still below old highs. The steel producers have fished out a government statistic to lend weight to their claims, saying the steel component of user industries are too small to affect their overall prices.

Sources say that the Indian Steel Alliance, which represents the large steel producers, is scheduled to meet the steel minister in the last week of the month. This will be just ahead of the pre-Budget meeting of the finance ministry with various individual ministries after Diwali. This gains significance from the signals emanating from the government on lowering import duty on steel.