Posted on 17 Jul 2008
The industry had agreed to hold prices for three month after
a price cut of Rs 4,000 a tonne, following a meeting with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on May 7.
"The government is not in favour of intervening in
pricing matters. We do not want the industry to incur losses. However, it is
our duty to ensure that consumers do not suffer as a result of an arbitrary
price hike, which is disproportionate to the increase in raw material
prices," Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters at the Indian
Steel Conclave, organised jointly by Ficci and the steel ministry.
The government has noted with concern that certain dealers
have been selling steel products at a rate higher than the market price, taking
advantage of the rising demand.
"We will take up the issue of such manipulations. We
have already directed the public sector steel companies to keep a strict watch
on such malpractices. I request other producers to keep a similar watch on
their retail and distribution network," said Paswan.
Steel prices have moved up by 40-50 per cent since January,
owing to a rise in prices of raw materials such as iron ore, coal and freight
charges.
"The unprecedented jump in raw material prices coupled
with a robust demand have led to an all-time high steel prices," said B
Muthuraman, managing director of Tata Steel, the country's largest steel
producer in the private sector.
Muthuraman added that while the primary steel producers agreed to cut prices by Rs 4,000 a tonne in May, no positive and corresponding action was seen from the processing and downstream industries. "Final product prices, which actually impact inflation, have not come down," he said.
Because of its inability to pass on the price increase, the
return on investment for steel companies in 2008-09 would be lower than in the
previous year.
