THE MINISTER OF STEEL (SHRI BENI PRASAD VERMA)
(a)&(b): The price of steel in the domestic market was at its peak during
April to July 2008. During the last three years, the price of steel items
in the domestic market has been fluctuating in accordance with the domestic
market conditions, international steel market prices and price movement in
raw material in the international market. A table indicating quarterly price
movement in respect of the representative category of steel items in
domestic market is annexed.
(c) The price of steel in the country is deregulated and is decided by
the individual producers based on various market conditions, such as demand
supply scenario, movement in international steel market prices, cost of raw
materials and other input costs. Considering the increasing steel demand in
the domestic market, Government has taken various fiscal steps to maintain
a steady supply position in the domestic market and also to boost steel
production in the country. These are:
(i) Import duty on raw material such as coking coal and Steel Melting
Scrap is NIL.
(ii) Export duty of 20% has been imposed on export of all grades and
varieties of iron ore (except pellets).
(iii) Import duty on Steel items is 5 to 10%.
(d)to(f): As per the available record, the quantity of iron ore produced
in the country , exported from the country and the percentage of export
out of iron ore produced in the country during 2008-09, 2009-10
and 2010-11 is given below-
(Quantity in million tonnes)
Year Iron ore Iron ore exported# Percentage of export produced@ out of iron ore produced
2008-09 212.96 105.86 49.7%
2009-10 218.64 117.37 53.7%
2010-11 208.11 97.66 46.9%
(estimated)
@ Source – IBM, Ministry of Mines
# Source – MMTC, Department of Commerce
The total domestic consumption of iron ore (including both private sector and
public sector steel plants) during 2010-11 was estimated as 111.4 million
tonnes. The production of iron ore in the country is about double the
consumption of iron ore by the domestic iron & steel industry and therefore
is sufficient to meet the present requirement of iron ore by the steel sector
in the country. However, Ministry of Steel is of the view that iron ore,
being a non-renewable natural resource, should be conserved for long term
utilization of domestic steel industry. The Government has decided that
conservation of iron ore resources of the country should be achieved not
by banning or capping the export of iron ore but by taking recourse to
appropriate fiscal measures. Presently, an export duty of 20% ad valorem
is levied on iron ore of all grades and varieties (except pellets).
