Any move by the government to extend further protection to large steel makers by imposing anti-dumping duties would be detrimental to small and medium enterprises, engineering exporters’ body EEPC India has said.

The statement comes soon after the government extended anti-dumping duty by two months on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four nations including China and South Korea to guard domestic industry against cheap imports.

Small and medium enterprises, particularly those engaged in a fiercely competitive export markets, have strongly opposed any move by the government to extend further protection to the large steel makers by way of anti-dumping duties or other measures.

“Any move to further protect the steel makers, most of whom are large scale big houses, would be at the cost of hundreds of thousands of the SMEs whose product cost is rising because of increase in steel prices,” EEPC India Chairman T S Bhasin told PTI.

He said the profits and the sales realisations of steel firms have shot up significantly in the last two quarters and their shares have seen a sharp run in the stock markets as well, signifying that they do not need protection.

“This tendency of converting MIP into anti-dumping is harming the SME steel users which are highly job-oriented,” Bhasin pointed out.

The government did not extend the protectionist minimum import price (MIP) on 19 colour-coated steel products. It had imposed minimum import price (MIP) on these 19 products, which are mainly colour-coated steel items, till February 4.

However, the government may impose anti-dumping duty on these 19 colour-coated steel products if required, Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma had said earlier.

Source: Business Standard