Stainless steel industry seeks higher Customs duty

The stainless steel industry is now looking to get stronger support from the government, as it hopes for an upward revision in basic Customs duty for stainless steel, bringing it on a par with duty on primary steel products, which currently attracts a 12.5 per cent levy.

On Friday, the government imposed a countervailing duty (CVD) of 18.9 per cent on Chinese hot- and coldrolled stainless steel products for five years.

“We are hoping the government would support this industry in a similar manner as it has done for the carbon steel producers (primary steel makers), where they were protected with a series of duties while we (stainless steel industry) were left high and dry,” N C Mathur, independent director at Jindal Stainless (Hisar) told Business Standard. Currently, stainless steel imports draw a basic Customs duty of 7.5 percent.

Meanwhile, industry officials counted long-term benefits of CVD imposition for the industry. “The imposition of CVD will help the domestic stainless steel industry increase its capacity utilisation, since cheap Chinese imports ate into 20 per cent of the total demand,” said a stainless steel producer on condition of anonymity.