DGFT extends the MIP on iron and steel till Feb 4

The Dollar Business Bureau

To protect domestic producers of iron and steel from cheaper imports, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has extended the Minimum Import Price (MIP) on 19 iron and steel products for another two months ie till February 4, 2017.

This was relayed via notification no., 31/2015-2020 Dated 3rd December, 2016 specifying that the Central Govt extends the applicability of Minimum Import Price (MIP) on 19 HS Codes of Iron and Steel under Chapter 72 of ITC (HS), 2012 - Schedule-1 (Import Policy) beyond 04/12/2016.

The present MIP ranges between $643 to $752 per tonne. It should be noted that MIP on 66 products was extended four months ago. The 19 products include flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, corrugated flat rolled products of iron/non alloy steel plated with zinc, products coated with chromium oxides and products plated or coated with lead, lacquered and others.

Earlier in August also the government had imposed an MIP on 66 products ranging from $341 to $752/tonne to protect domestic steel manufacturers against cheap imports from China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. And prior to that it had imposed an MIP in February on 173 steel products. India imported 6.34 million tonne of non-alloy steel between April-Dec 2015. Eventually the predatory prices of the steel surplus countries such as China, Russia and South Korea had been a major concern for domestic producers whose petition to the Government to impose MIP has greatly benefited and the industry was marginally able to recover on their eroded profit margins.