The Indian government recently increased import duties on steel bars and stainless steel flat-rolled coil to prevent dumping of cheap products from other countries, a move that is likely to put pressure on Taiwanese steelmakers, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
On Aug. 12, India raised tariffs on steel bars from 10 percent to 12.5 percent and raised tariffs for stainless steel flat-rolled coil from 7.5 percent to 10 percent, the ministry said.
“Four kinds of Taiwanese steel products, which account for US$121.75 million export value per year, will be affected by the latest tariff hikes,” the ministry said in a statement.
China, South Korea and Japan are the three main steel suppliers to India, the ministry said, adding that Japan and South Korea might not be affected because they had signed free-trade agreements with India.
It is the second time in recent months that India has increased import duty on basic metals, after raising tariffs on steel bars and stainless steel flat-rolled coil on June 17, the ministry said.
MANUFACTURERS SUFFER
The tariff hikes benefit India’s upstream steel suppliers, but downstream suppliers and second tier manufacturers suffer due to higher costs linked to the policy, the ministry said.
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), Taiwan’s largest steelmaker, has a manufacturing plant of electromagnetic steel sheet in India’s western Gujarat State and mainly imports materials from Taiwan.
The tariff hike policy is likely to increase CSC’s manufacturing costs, the ministry said.
FREE-TRADE DEAL
CSC invested NT$7.1 billion (US$216 million) in the over 60 hectare plant, with an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes of electromagnetic steel sheet, that mainly supplies Indian motors and transformers, according to the ministry.
While the ministry is to continue protesting against Indian’s tariff hike policy, it is also to accelerate the signing of a free trade agreement with India to help Taiwanese manufacturers in the long term, the ministry said.
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