No shortage of steel in the country

There is no shortage of steel in the country and the compunded annual growth rate of finished steel was 7.5 per cent during the past two years, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

"Based on the data related to production, exports and imports monitored by the government, the overall availability of finished steel in the country in 2005-06 was 38.35 million tonnes, which is higher by 11 per cent compared to 2004-05," Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a written reply to a query.

He said the CAGR of steel in the past two years has been 7.5 per cent which was higher than the target envisaged in the national steel policy.

The Minister said all major producers have their distribution network. SAIL has already appointed 200 dealers in 97 districts of the country and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has appointed dealers in 40 districts of the country.

He SCs and STs were accorded due preference in providing dealership subject to their fulfilment of eligibility criteria In reply to another query Paswan said the Indian Steel Alliance's demanded on restoration of import duty to 40 per cent on defective and second category steel could have an adverse impact on domestic availability and prices of such steel as there was a significant demand of these steel in the country.

Currently customs duty on seconds and defectives has a differential of 15 per cent in case of prime and non-alloy steel and 12.5 per cent in case of prime and stainless steel, he told the House.

The government has entered into agreements with Japanese Steel Mills (JSMs) and South Korean stel giant Posco for export of ore for a period of five years from April this year, Paswan said. The agreements envisage that JSMs would buy iron ore between 3.47 MT to 6.67 MT and Posco would buy 0.80 MT to 1.60 MT. As per the national steel policy a judicious balance would continue to be maintained between exports and domestic supply of iron ore. As investments were made into beneficiation, sintering and pelletisation in India, export of iron ore was likely to decline, he said.

In reply to a query the Minister said RINL has been conferred Miniratna Status Category 1 and efforts were on for granting captive iron ore mines to the PSU to make it self-reliant on raw materials.

SAIL was importing hard and soft coking coal from Australia, New Zealand, USA, China, Canada and Indonesia, he added.

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