It was reported that the Indian government has proposed to cut import duties on steel products, considering slashing the duties rate to zero or near zero, so as to curb the rising prices and reduce pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In the Union Budget of India for 2021-22, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had reduced the anti-dumping (AD) duty and countervailing duty (CVD) on certain steel products, the import duty on semi-finished, flat, and long products of non-alloy, alloy, and stainless steel was reduced to 7.5% from 10-12.5%, and the duty on ferrous scrap was also slashed to zero. These decisions were to support the local industries that impacted severely by surged steel prices.

However, steel prices in India and worldwide were expected to hike further due to the strong demand for steel and China’s cancelation of export tax rebates. Therefore, it was believed that the only way to support Indian domestic supply was to impose 20-25% export duty to restrict exports.