Lok Sabha Question No. 1655 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-08
Subject: Price of Steel
Ministry: STEEL
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian, D. M. Kathir Anand

THE MINISTER OF STEEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF STEEL

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1655 FOR ANSWER ON 08/12/2021

## PRICE OF STEEL

1655.  DR. T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN: SHRI D.M. KATHIR ANAND:

Will the Minister of STEEL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  price  of  steel  has  increased  about  250%  in  the  last  five  years which  has  drastically  affected  our  infrastructure  development  and  if  so,  the  details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard;
- (b) whether there is any issue in the supply of iron ore or raw material for steel plants in India and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to make steel industry more efficient and be available at cheap rate; and
- (c) the  details  of  effective  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  develop  the integrated Steel plant at Salem, Tamil Nadu?

## ANSWER

(SHRI RAM CHANDRA PRASAD SINGH)

- (a) Details of average market price (retail) of key products of iron and steel used in infrastructure sector in last five years (avg. in November month) are as follows:-

| JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   | JPC AVERAGE MARKET PRICE (RETAIL) (excluding GST) (Rs/t)   |
|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|
| Item                                                       | Nov- 16                                                    | Nov- 17                                                    | Nov- 18                                                    | Nov- 19                                                    | Nov- 20                                                    | Nov- 21                                                    | %change (Nov'21 w.r.t Nov'16)                              |
| WIRERODS8MM                                                | 30808                                                      | 35379                                                      | 43903                                                      | 35324                                                      | 40909                                                      | 55388                                                      | 80                                                         |
| TMT10MM                                                    | 28438                                                      | 33000                                                      | 42778                                                      | 35464                                                      | 39398                                                      | 57314                                                      | 102                                                        |
| PLATES10MM                                                 | 32244                                                      | 38325                                                      | 46817                                                      | 35460                                                      | 42875                                                      | 69852                                                      | 117                                                        |
| G. P. SHEETS 0.63MM                                        | 44027                                                      | 49454                                                      | 57596                                                      | 48360                                                      | 55771                                                      | 85237                                                      | 94                                                         |
| Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       | Source : Joint Plant Committee (JPC)                       |

The  details  of  consumption  of  finished  steel  including  that  in  Infrastructure sector in the last five years is given as follows:

(in million tonnes)

Condt…………/2-

| Financial Year                |   FY 17 |   FY 18 |   FY 19 |   FY20 |   FY 21 |
|-------------------------------|---------|---------|---------|--------|---------|
| Consumption of Finished steel |   84.04 |   90.71 |   98.71 | 100.17 |   94.89 |

Source: Joint Plant Committee (JPC)

(b) Government has taken various steps to increase availability of iron  ore  and steel and make them available at reasonable price, which, inter-alia, including Mining and  Mineral  Policy  reforms  to  enhance  production/availability  of  iron  ore,  early operationalization  of  forfeited  working  mines  of  Odisha  by  the  Steel  and  Central PSUs etc., and ramping up production and capacity utilization by steel producers. In Union  Budget  2021-22,  Customs  Duty  has  been  reduced  uniformly  to  7.5%  on Semis,  Flat  and  Long  products  of  non-alloy,  alloy  and  stainless  steels.  Further,  to provide  relief  to  metal  re-cyclers,  mostly  MSMEs,  BCD  on  steel  scrap  has  been exempted for a period up to 31 st March, 2022. In addition, ADD and CVD on certain steel products have also been revoked/temporarily revoked.

(c) Steel  is  a  deregulated  sector  and  the  role  of  the  Government  is  that  of a  facilitator.  Decision regarding development of steel plants are taken by individual companies based on techno-commercial consideration.

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