Rolling back export duty on steel products, iron ore good decision: TV Narendran

“We welcome the government’s decision to roll back the export duty on steel products and iron ore, imposed to deal with the inflationary situation, and we acknowledge the same,” news agency PTI quoted Narendran as saying.

Adding more, he said that India has a great opportunity to make steel in India, for India, and for the world.

Apart from this, Narendran noted that China, Japan, and South Korea, together export around 150 million tonne of steel annually despite importing most of their iron ore needs.

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Earlier, the import duty on anthracite/PCI, coking coal and ferronickel — used as raw materials in the steel industry — was hiked to 2.5 per cent, while for coke and semi-coke it has been raised to 5 per cent, from ‘nil’ earlier.

As per details, coking coal and iron ore are the two key raw materials used in steel making.

Though iron ore is domestically available, for coking coal, India is dependent on imports. The country meets 85 per cent of its coking coal requirement through imports, mainly from Australia.

Also, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL)’s MD Bimlendra Jha on 20 November too welcomed the government’s decision and said the move would help improve the financial and operational performance of steel players.

Earlier on May 21, the government imposed the export duty on steel items and iron ore, but now it has removed it to nil effective from November 19, 2022.

With PTI inputs.