Imposing safeguard duty on steel import will hit MSMEs hard: EEPC India to Govt
Updated: Sep 11, 2015 05:11:49pm
New Delhi, Sept 11 (KNN) Soon after Director General (DG) of Safeguards on Wednesday recommended imposition of provisional safeguard duty of 20 per cent on steel imports, the industry bodies have been raising alarm over adverse impact on the MSMEs. Engineering exporters’ apex body EEPC India has written to letter to the government opining that the move will hit the small sector badly.
Director General (DG) of Safeguards on Wednesday recommended imposition of provisional safeguard duty of 20 per cent for hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils.
In a letter to the Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), R Katoch, EEPC India said, “This is a very serious issue and will affect the MSME and exporting community very hardly as the price of the sheets, which is a basic raw material for most of the engineering sector will immediately go up.”
Stating that the exports are already falling since the last few months, the industry body said that the move might add on to the crisis.
“We are reeling under tremendous price pressure from China for exporting our goods and one of the main reason is high raw material costs,” Pradeep K Aggarwal, EEPC India Deputy Regional Chairman said.
This move will benefit the steel producers but on the other hand MSME sector will be badly affected and will come to the extent of closing down, he added.
EEPC India urged the government not to implement the proposal for the “sustenance of MSME sector as well as exporting units”.
Earlier, an MSME entrepreneur said, “Duty will make imports costlier. Iron and Steel are major inputs for manufacturing MSMEs. Any increase in the input cost will make survival of the MSMEs difficult as they operate in a very operating margin.”
The product is primarily imported from China, Korea, Japan and Russia. The demand for imposing duty was made by JSW Steel, Essar Steel and SAIL due to a surge in imports.
An application was filed by the three companies before DGS for imposition of Safeguard Duty on imports of “Hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy Steel in coils of a width of 600 mm or more” into India to protect the domestic producers of PUC, said DGS.
Safeguard duty is a WTO-compatible temporary measure brought in for a certain timeframe to protect country's domestic industry from cheap imports. (KNN Bureau)
Director General (DG) of Safeguards on Wednesday recommended imposition of provisional safeguard duty of 20 per cent for hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils.
In a letter to the Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), R Katoch, EEPC India said, “This is a very serious issue and will affect the MSME and exporting community very hardly as the price of the sheets, which is a basic raw material for most of the engineering sector will immediately go up.”
Stating that the exports are already falling since the last few months, the industry body said that the move might add on to the crisis.
“We are reeling under tremendous price pressure from China for exporting our goods and one of the main reason is high raw material costs,” Pradeep K Aggarwal, EEPC India Deputy Regional Chairman said.
This move will benefit the steel producers but on the other hand MSME sector will be badly affected and will come to the extent of closing down, he added.
EEPC India urged the government not to implement the proposal for the “sustenance of MSME sector as well as exporting units”.
Earlier, an MSME entrepreneur said, “Duty will make imports costlier. Iron and Steel are major inputs for manufacturing MSMEs. Any increase in the input cost will make survival of the MSMEs difficult as they operate in a very operating margin.”
The product is primarily imported from China, Korea, Japan and Russia. The demand for imposing duty was made by JSW Steel, Essar Steel and SAIL due to a surge in imports.
An application was filed by the three companies before DGS for imposition of Safeguard Duty on imports of “Hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy Steel in coils of a width of 600 mm or more” into India to protect the domestic producers of PUC, said DGS.
Safeguard duty is a WTO-compatible temporary measure brought in for a certain timeframe to protect country's domestic industry from cheap imports. (KNN Bureau)
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