“Last month, we took a unilateral decision to stop exports and have also supplied 15-20 per cent additional steel in March to correct the demand-supply situation,” said ISA president Moosa Raza. Denying the cartelisation charge, he said the industry has been affected by high coking coal and iron ore prices.

However, Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman said in Jamshedpur today that the only way to contain prices of steel is by immediately creating new capacities in the country to match or even exceed the fast pace of demand growth unleashed by a liberalised economy. “Prices of everything from raw materials to energy inputs to ocean freight and consequently steel products have recently surged to unprecedented highs due to rapid steel demand growth from the developing economies, coupled with inadequate raw material availability,” he said.

He added that self-restraint on steel prices was being exercised amidst raising input costs by SAIL and Tata Steel.