Lok Sabha Question No. 2869 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-18
Subject: Low Price Steel
Ministry: STEEL
Asked by: Shri Imran Masood

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF STEEL

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2869

FOR ANSWER ON 18.03.2025

## LOW PRICE STEEL

## 2869. SHRI IMRAN MASOOD:

Will the Minister of STEEL be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  measures  taken  to  mitigate  the  impact  of  low  priced  steel  import  on  the domestic steel industry;
- (b) the manner in which the Government is addressing the issue of shortage of iron ore  and  planning  to  safeguard  new  iron ore  sources  and the  manner  in which  the Government is advocating its policies to promote recycling of steel;
- (c) the quantity of steel imported from various countries in 2014, year-wise; and
- (d) the steps taken to reduce dependence on steel imports especially from China?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE          (SHRI BHUPATHIRAJU SRINIVASA VARMA) MINISTRY OF STEEL

- (a) to (d): Steel is a deregulated sector and steel prices are determined by demand supply dynamics of market  forces, global market  conditions,  trends  in  price  of  raw materials, logistics cost, power and fuel cost, etc. The Government acts as a facilitator, by  creating  a  conducive  policy  environment  for  the  development  of  steel  sector including small and medium producers in the country. Government has taken following steps to facilitate the reduction of Steel imports and to improve the competitiveness of domestic steel manufacturers to reduce dependency on imports:-
- i. Launch of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Specialty Steel to promote the manufacturing of 'Specialty Steel' within the country and reduce imports by attracting capital investments. The anticipated additional investment under the PLI Scheme for Specialty Steel is Rs 27,106 crores with downstream capacity creation of around 25 million tonnes (MT) for specialty steel.
- ii. Introduction  of  steel  Quality  Control  Orders  thereby  banning  sub-standard/ defective steel products in domestic market as well as imports to ensure the availability of quality steel to the industry, users and public at large.

- iii. Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) has been revamped and SIMS 2.0 was launched on 25.07.2024 for more effective monitoring of imports to address the concerns of domestic steel industry.
- iv. Implementation of Domestically Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI&SP) Policy for promoting 'Made in India' steel for Government procurement.
- v. Anti  Dumping  Duty  (ADD)  measures  pertaining  to  some  steel  products  like seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of iron, alloy, or non-alloy steel (other than  cast iron and  stainless steel) (from  China  PR),  electro-galvanized  steel (from Korea RP, Japan, Singapore), stainless-steel seamless tubes and pipes (from China PR), welded stainless steel pipes and tubes (from Vietnam and Thailand) are in place currently.
- vi. Countervailing Duty (CVD) is in place for Welded Stainless Steel Pipes and Tubes from China and Vietnam.

There  is  sufficient  reserve  of  iron  ore  in  the  country  to  meet  the  current demand/consumption by domestic steel industry. The production of Iron Ore in FY 2024 was more than 270 Million tons and the export were approximately 46 Million tons while the import was 4.9 Million tons, as per the data provided by IBM.

The Government has taken various steps to increase supply of minerals which include, inter-alia, Mining and Mineral Policy reforms to ensure enhanced production, early  auction  &  operationalization  of  mines  with  expired  leases,  ease  of  doing business, seamless transfer of all valid rights & approvals, incentivizing for starting of mining operation & dispatch, transferring of mining leases, allowing captive mines to sell upto 50% of the minerals produced, enhancing the exploration activities etc.

Government has notified the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy in November, 2019. The  policy  provides  a  framework  to  facilitate  and  promote  establishment  of  metal scrapping  centres  in  India  for  scientific  processing  and  recycling  of  ferrous  scrap generated from various sources.

The details of country-wise imports of finished steel including from China since 2014 are at Annexure.

Annexure Country Wise Import of Finished Steel from 2014-15 to 2023-24 - Quantity (in '000 tonnes)

| S. NO.                              | Country Name                        | 2014-15                             | 2015-16                             | 2016-17                             | 2017-18                             | 2018-19                             | 2019-20                             | 2020-21                             | 2021-22                             | 2022-23                             | 2023-24                             |
|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 1                                   | CHINA                               | 3,576                               | 4,087                               | 2,153                               | 1,901                               | 1,539                               | 1,207                               | 843                                 | 833                                 | 1,407                               | 2,687                               |
| 2                                   | KOREA                               | 1,869                               | 3,005                               | 2,103                               | 2,473                               | 2,931                               | 2,687                               | 1,947                               | 2,009                               | 2,228                               | 2,670                               |
| 3                                   | JAPAN                               | 1,583                               | 2,158                               | 1,136                               | 1,176                               | 1,271                               | 1,018                               | 560                                 | 664                                 | 841                                 | 1,274                               |
| 4                                   | VIETNAM                             | 25                                  | 8                                   | 16                                  | 203                                 | 167                                 | 86                                  | 133                                 | 75                                  | 320                                 | 737                                 |
| 5                                   | TAIWAN                              | 190                                 | 202                                 | 247                                 | 271                                 | 262                                 | 165                                 | 186                                 | 194                                 | 163                                 | 185                                 |
| 6                                   | NEPAL                               | 96                                  | 54                                  | 10                                  | 9                                   | 3                                   | 6                                   | 6                                   | 9                                   | 59                                  | 120                                 |
| 7                                   | INDONESIA                           | 14                                  | 243                                 | 46                                  | 107                                 | 228                                 | 464                                 | 79                                  | 241                                 | 148                                 | 94                                  |
| 8                                   | GERMANY                             | 149                                 | 197                                 | 153                                 | 145                                 | 166                                 | 135                                 | 146                                 | 151                                 | 112                                 | 80                                  |
| 9                                   | THAILAND                            | 16                                  | 42                                  | 40                                  | 44                                  | 85                                  | 52                                  | 50                                  | 25                                  | 53                                  | 58                                  |
| 10                                  | RUSSIA                              | 226                                 | 364                                 | 291                                 | 150                                 | 126                                 | 71                                  | 63                                  | 55                                  | 313                                 | 53                                  |
| 11                                  | UAE                                 | 34                                  | 36                                  | 30                                  | 24                                  | 21                                  | 21                                  | 21                                  | 24                                  | 12                                  | 52                                  |
| 12                                  | AUSTRIA                             | 19                                  | 127                                 | 160                                 | 13                                  | 13                                  | 13                                  | 71                                  | 9                                   | 10                                  | 52                                  |
| 13                                  | SAUDI ARABIA                        | 4                                   | 1                                   | 1                                   | 6                                   | 22                                  | 8                                   | 36                                  | 14                                  | 9                                   | 39                                  |
| 14                                  | ITALY                               | 55                                  | 28                                  | 33                                  | 110                                 | 58                                  | 81                                  | 33                                  | 34                                  | 31                                  | 23                                  |
| 15                                  | USA                                 | 120                                 | 82                                  | 75                                  | 127                                 | 74                                  | 65                                  | 54                                  | 29                                  | 17                                  | 20                                  |
| 16                                  | SWEDEN                              | 26                                  | 21                                  | 29                                  | 33                                  | 24                                  | 23                                  | 27                                  | 39                                  | 48                                  | 20                                  |
| 17                                  | HONGKONG                            | 1                                   | 1                                   | 3                                   | 1                                   | 1                                   | 0                                   | 0                                   | 0                                   | 1                                   | 18                                  |
| 18                                  | BELGIUM                             | 126                                 | 96                                  | 76                                  | 99                                  | 118                                 | 74                                  | 56                                  | 28                                  | 33                                  | 17                                  |
| 19                                  | ROMANIA                             | 11                                  | 2                                   | 2                                   | 5                                   | 2                                   | 3                                   | 1                                   | 1                                   | 2                                   | 17                                  |
| 20                                  | FRANCE                              | 156                                 | 66                                  | 174                                 | 76                                  | 58                                  | 56                                  | 121                                 | 58                                  | 77                                  | 15                                  |
| 21                                  | OMAN                                | 0                                   | 46                                  | 1                                   | 9                                   | 7                                   | 4                                   | 12                                  | 5                                   | 7                                   | 11                                  |
| 22                                  | KUWAIT                              | 2                                   | 0                                   | 0                                   | 2                                   | 5                                   | 8                                   | 3                                   | 3                                   | 3                                   | 9                                   |
| 23                                  | SOUTH AFRICA                        | 71                                  | 52                                  | 23                                  | 40                                  | 41                                  | 22                                  | 15                                  | 8                                   | 5                                   | 7                                   |
| 24                                  | FINLAND                             | 12                                  | 12                                  | 9                                   | 13                                  | 14                                  | 9                                   | 5                                   | 5                                   | 7                                   | 6                                   |
| 25                                  | CANADA                              | 7                                   | 7                                   | 5                                   | 15                                  | 13                                  | 20                                  | 17                                  | 10                                  | 11                                  | 6                                   |
| 26                                  | MALAYSIA                            | 96                                  | 53                                  | 29                                  | 32                                  | 50                                  | 51                                  | 42                                  | 8                                   | 20                                  | 6                                   |
| 27                                  | SPAIN                               | 30                                  | 28                                  | 25                                  | 30                                  | 25                                  | 32                                  | 20                                  | 27                                  | 21                                  | 5                                   |
| 28                                  | U.K.                                | 30                                  | 31                                  | 16                                  | 43                                  | 20                                  | 17                                  | 11                                  | 6                                   | 5                                   | 4                                   |
| 29                                  | CZECH REP                           | 2                                   | 2                                   | 6                                   | 3                                   | 3                                   | 2                                   | 0                                   | 1                                   | 2                                   | 4                                   |
| 30                                  | SINGAPORE                           | 81                                  | 106                                 | 108                                 | 72                                  | 117                                 | 139                                 | 43                                  | 8                                   | 6                                   | 4                                   |
| 31                                  | OTHERS                              | 691                                 | 556                                 | 225                                 | 251                                 | 371                                 | 230                                 | 153                                 | 96                                  | 50                                  | 29                                  |
| TOTAL                               |                                     | 9,320                               | 11,712                              | 7,224                               | 7,483                               | 7,835                               | 6,768                               | 4,752                               | 4,669                               | 6,022                               | 8,320                               |
| 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) | Source : Joint Plant Committee(JPC) | Source : Joint Plant Committee(JPC) | Source : Joint Plant Committee(JPC) | Source : Joint Plant Committee(JPC) |