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Govt may slash import duty on steel to near-zero levels

Also, lower import duties would help maintain supply lines that have been affected with several domestic steel companies reducing steel production to divert medical grade oxygen for Covid-19 relief measures…reports Asian Lite News.

The government has proposed to slash import duties on steel items further bringing it to zero or near zero levels to provide relief to MSMEs, which have been hit hard by the high cost of raw materials amidst the raging pandemic.

Top government sources said that a decision had been taken to review duties on steel products and reduce it or withdraw it completely on few items to help the user industry hit hard by rising price of the metal in the domestic market.

Also, lower import duties would help maintain supply lines that have been affected with several domestic steel companies reducing steel production to divert medical grade oxygen for Covid-19 relief measures.

In budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had revoked the anti-dumping duty (ADD) and countervailing duty (CVD) on certain steel products while reducing customs duty uniformly to 7.5 percent on semis, flat, and long products of non-alloy, alloy, and stainless steels from 10-12.5 percent levels earlier. She also brought down import duty to nil on steel scrap to support user industries hit hard by sharp rise in steel prices.

These duties may now be withdrawn or slashed further.

“Steel prices continue to remain firm and have also risen further in recent months. It is making operation of several user industries difficult specially in a market disrupted by the pandemic. Cut in import duty will help tame steel prices as the global prices of steel in certain markets are still lower than domestic prices. The measure will also help supply lines of steel if there is any shortage in domestic steel production due to use of another input oxygen by steel makers for Covid relief,” said the official source quoted earlier.

It is expected that duty cuts in steel will be announced shortly by the DGFT after getting formal nod from the finance ministry. A call has to be taken whether to bring down duty levels largely at 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent or withdraw it completely for the time being.

Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices rallied to a multi-year high of Rs 56,000 per tonne in February from Rs 39,200 per tonne in March 2020 as demand improved amid iron-ore supply constraints and high global prices. This has further improved to over Rs 58,000 in April, a jump of over 50 per cent in last 13 months.

With demand for steel remaining firm and China cutting export incentives to steel makers to support domestic needs, Indian steel prices are expected to move up further. The cut in duty is expected to tame prices in the domestic market while providing competition to domestic steelmakers from traders who secure cheaper metal from abroad.

Steel producers asking anonymity said that the move to cut import duty would be detrimental to the interest of domestic steelmakers as it could flood the market with cheap and substandard steel being dumped into the country. They said that the steel market is giving indications that the domestic steel sector may turn profitable after a long interval. But duty cuts could change the cycle again.

In the current scenario of a moderation in demand in India due to the second wave of Covid-19 and consequent business lockdowns, Indian steel mills would be able to offload large steel volumes to export markets and still remain highly profitable, according to a recent report from ICRA.

But a cut in duty would squeeze margins and bring a lot of export destined products back into the domestic market.

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COVID-19 India News Kerala

LDF stage protests demanding free Covid vaccine

Centre has provided 60 lakh vaccine doses to Kerala and the state is now left with just around three lakh doses…reports Asian Lite News.

Activists and supporters of the CPI-M led Left Democratic Front on Wednesday staged sit-in protests in front of their homes and party offices across Kerala, demanding the Centre ensure free vaccines are provided to all.

The Left, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has been demanding free vaccine supply from the Centre, noting that has been the practice in the country.

AstraZeneca vaccine

So far, the Centre has provided 60 lakh vaccine doses to Kerala and the state is now left with just around three lakh doses.

“This (decision for states to buy vaccines) is nothing but to help the corporates and hence the Centre is making the cash-crunched states to buy their needs. This is in no way acceptable and hence we decided to organise this unique protest,” said S. Sudevan, the Kollam district Secretary of the CPI-M who along with his office bearers agitated in front of their party office.

On Wednesday, the Vijayan government gave an order for one crore doses of vaccine which includes 70 lakh doses of Covishield and 30 lakh of Covaxin.

“This is the first time that the Centre is levying a charge for a vaccine. All along vaccines that has been supplied in our country till now has been given free. We made numerous appeals to the Centre, but nothing seems to be happening and hence we decided to buy the vaccines and will give it free,” Vijayan told the media here, asking the Centre to reconsider its decision.

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