A view of a steel plant in India

Staff Reporter | 06 Mar, 2008
Paswan urges steel industry to check steel prices

The Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan has urged the steel industry to exercise restraint on increasing prices.

Delivering the inaugural address at the "Summit on Mining to Steel Making" organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce recently, the Minister said every price hike should have some relevance with the rise in cost.

He said, the government has accepted several of the recommendations of the steel ministry and these have been incorporated in the latest Union Budget. Noting that any price rise of steel indirectly affects basic consumer goods Mr Paswan asked the steel industry to appreciate the sensitive relationship.

The Minister said, steel producers had responded positively to his request for partial roll back and urged the industry to ensure that any price reduction should be reflected in the retail prices. Mr Paswan said, the price monitoring committee can play an effective role only with the cooperation of all concerned.

On the growth of the steel sector the Minister said, the government is alive to the problems of the steel sector and will take all steps to remove hurdles on increasing capacity.

He said, Indian steel sector is set for rapid expansion with production likely to touch 124 million tonnes by 2011-12. He said, the consumption of steel is growing at 14 – 16 percent at least for next 7 years. Therefore there is a need to expedite the ongoing steel projects.

He said, one of the critical problems facing the growth of steel sector is the need for a sound policy on allocation of iron ore mines,. He said, the steel ministry has always favoured priority in allocation of iron ore mines to the domestic value addition in the country itself.

He said, export of iron ore should be limited to the quantity only after meeting the domestic steel production. The Minister said, there is also a need for conservation of iron ore as well as its scientific use through better technologies and beneficiation methods.