Apprehending re-imposition of export duty in the wake of retail steel prices shooting high, steel producers today assured the government of publicising their prices to discipline the hoarders and reviewing maximum retail price (MRP) arrangements on all flat products to prevent speculation in prices. Manufacturers of steel pipes and tubes assured that they would reduce their prices by about 10 per cent with immediate effect to around Rs. 48,000 per tonne.

In a meeting with steel producers, steel secretary Raghav Sharan Pandey asked if the primary producers did not increase their prices, how retail prices had shot up 10 per cent.

“They proposed that MRP arrangements would be reviewed on flat products to enable passing on the benefit of the current price line to the end users,” Pandey told The Indian Express

Federation of Indian Industries President I P Jain said the steel tubes and pipes producers would roll back the prices of their produce by 10 per cent. The prices had shot as high as around Rs 55,000 a tonne.

Pandey told the industry captains that despite an assurance given by them at a meeting with the Prime Minister on May 7 to hold the price line for three months, prices had gone up at the retail level. He categorically asked them to hold the price line at a time when the government is fighting inflationary pressure. Sources say that the steel ministry, in its latest revision in prices, has pointed out that prices were at least 20 per cent higher than the previous prices. Since steel contributes more than 8 per cent to the wholesale price index, the higher prices would put a considerable upward pressure on inflation, they said.

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