Operating margin of primary steelmakers to swell 500 bps over firm prices
New Delhi Industry body Indian Pipe Manufacturers' Association (IPMA) has sought government intervention to regulate the prices of steel, which are trading at an all-time high in India.
In a letter to Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the body has also sought a temporary ban on its export, a move which will prevent steel players from diverting their produce to the international markets.
"Pipe manufacturers and MSMEs are struggling for a long time due to increased prices and shortage of steel in the domestic market. We had approached your (Steel Minister) office, requesting your kind intervention for regulating prices and imposing a temporary ban on steel export," the letter dated May 20, 2021 said.
The association said it has also marked a copy of the letter to the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan, Secretary Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Guruprasad Mohapatra and Steel Secretary Pradip Kumar Tripathi, to apprise them about such issues.
IPMA said steel prices have increased more than 60 per cent in the past 10 months and are expected to increase further by Rs 4000/ a tonne in coming days. This has made existence for down-stream industries impossible who are totally dependent on integrated steel mills for their raw material requirement, it added. Several down-stream industries have closed and many more are on the brink of closure, IPMA claimed.
