Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy
India will continue to take steps to protect domestic steel-makers from imports, Union Minister of Steel, HD Kumaraswamy, said.
Imposition of safeguard duty has led to some decline in imports, and the situation, post the US announcing doubling of steel and aluminium tariffs to 50 per cent, continues to be monitored.
The Minister talks about impact of US tariff hikes, domestic demand for steel and bringing down imports.
Edited excerpts:
What sort of impact does the Ministry see from US tariff hikes — for steel and aluminium?
The US imposed additional tariff of 25 per cent on steel under Section 232 of Trade Expansion Act, 1962 in March 2018 on a global basis. On May 30, the US President announced increasing the tariff on steel from 25 per cent to 50 per cent effective from June 4.
There are two scenarios here. If we are talking about direct impact, then in FY25, India exported 165,000 tonnes of finished steel to the US, which is approx. 0.1 per cent of India’s total (finished steel) production. Due to its less exposure to US, the direct impact of US tariffs on India’s steel sector is expected to be minimal.
Then there is the indirect effect. So when steel-exporting nations face restrictions in the US, they may try to redirect their surplus steel to other regions, leading to increased competition and price pressures in markets. This may have some indirect impact on steel prices.
We are keeping a watch on the situation and appropriate action will be taken to protect domestic steel-makers.
Will the Ministry re-looking into safeguard duty rates (beyond 12 per cent) as US tariffs go up, and global steel prices driven by China fall further?
As we know, imports of finished steel in FY25 stood at 9.6 million tonnes (mt) indicating an increase of 14.8 per cent over steel imports in previous year.
Domestic steel industry filed an application with Director General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for safeguard investigation in this matter. DGTR in their preliminary investigation concluded that there was a surge in imports of steel during 2024-25 causing serious injury to domestic industry. Based on the recommendations of DGTR, the Centre in April 2025, imposed a provisional safeguard duty of 12 per cent ad valorem for 200 days on imports of certain flat steel products.
The final investigation in this matter is ongoing. We shall wait for the final finding of the DGTR in the matter.
In April, steel imports from China and Vietnam, saw a decline, YoY and also sequentially. Your comment.
These may be early signs. And a result of various steps taken by the Centre, one of which is imposition of provisional safeguard duty.
In FY25, there was a robust domestic steel demand of 152 mt, an increase of 11.5 per cent y-o-y. This is likely to increase further in coming year due to Government’s policies and continued focus on infrastructure sector.
Decline in steel imports will help protect the interests of domestic steel industry going forward.
Any thoughts on including steel & related discussions in trade talks with US?
The Centre continues to engage with the US to achieve enhancement and broadening of bilateral trade ties in a mutually beneficial and fair manner.
Both nations released a joint statement on February 13, 2025, reaffirming their commitment to deepening economic ties. Under the ambitious “Mission 500”, both countries aim to more than double US-India trade to $500 billion by 2030.
Both countries plan to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement with emphasis on increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and enhancing supply chain integration.
We are keeping a watch on the situation and appropriate action will be taken to protect domestic steel-makers. HD Kumaraswamy Steel Minister
Published on June 2, 2025
Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy
India will continue to take steps to protect domestic steel-makers from imports, Union Minister of Steel, HD Kumaraswamy, said.
Imposition of safeguard duty has led to some decline in imports, and the situation, post the US announcing doubling of steel and aluminium tariffs to 50 per cent, continues to be monitored.
The Minister talks about impact of US tariff hikes, domestic demand for steel and bringing down imports.
Edited excerpts:
What sort of impact does the Ministry see from US tariff hikes — for steel and aluminium?
The US imposed additional tariff of 25 per cent on steel under Section 232 of Trade Expansion Act, 1962 in March 2018 on a global basis. On May 30, the US President announced increasing the tariff on steel from 25 per cent to 50 per cent effective from June 4.
There are two scenarios here. If we are talking about direct impact, then in FY25, India exported 165,000 tonnes of finished steel to the US, which is approx. 0.1 per cent of India’s total (finished steel) production. Due to its less exposure to US, the direct impact of US tariffs on India’s steel sector is expected to be minimal.
Then there is the indirect effect. So when steel-exporting nations face restrictions in the US, they may try to redirect their surplus steel to other regions, leading to increased competition and price pressures in markets. This may have some indirect impact on steel prices.
We are keeping a watch on the situation and appropriate action will be taken to protect domestic steel-makers.
Will the Ministry re-looking into safeguard duty rates (beyond 12 per cent) as US tariffs go up, and global steel prices driven by China fall further?
As we know, imports of finished steel in FY25 stood at 9.6 million tonnes (mt) indicating an increase of 14.8 per cent over steel imports in previous year.
Domestic steel industry filed an application with Director General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for safeguard investigation in this matter. DGTR in their preliminary investigation concluded that there was a surge in imports of steel during 2024-25 causing serious injury to domestic industry. Based on the recommendations of DGTR, the Centre in April 2025, imposed a provisional safeguard duty of 12 per cent ad valorem for 200 days on imports of certain flat steel products.
The final investigation in this matter is ongoing. We shall wait for the final finding of the DGTR in the matter.
In April, steel imports from China and Vietnam, saw a decline, YoY and also sequentially. Your comment.
These may be early signs. And a result of various steps taken by the Centre, one of which is imposition of provisional safeguard duty.
In FY25, there was a robust domestic steel demand of 152 mt, an increase of 11.5 per cent y-o-y. This is likely to increase further in coming year due to Government’s policies and continued focus on infrastructure sector.
Decline in steel imports will help protect the interests of domestic steel industry going forward.
Any thoughts on including steel & related discussions in trade talks with US?
The Centre continues to engage with the US to achieve enhancement and broadening of bilateral trade ties in a mutually beneficial and fair manner.
Both nations released a joint statement on February 13, 2025, reaffirming their commitment to deepening economic ties. Under the ambitious “Mission 500”, both countries aim to more than double US-India trade to $500 billion by 2030.
Both countries plan to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement with emphasis on increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and enhancing supply chain integration.
We are keeping a watch on the situation and appropriate action will be taken to protect domestic steel-makers. HD Kumaraswamy Steel Minister
Published on June 2, 2025
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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