The Indian government is mulling imposing a safeguard duty of 11-12 per cent on selected steel products to curb unbridled steel imports, especially from China.
The country’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) issued a communique on August 16 that suggested levying a three-year import tariff on selected steel products.
“The Authority concludes that there is a recent, sudden, sharp and significant increase in imports,” the DGTR notification said, noting that this could cause serious losses to the domestic steel sector.
The duties would begin at 12 per cent in the first year, reduce to 11.5 per cent in the second, and then further drop to 11 per cent in the third, reported Reuters.
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The move is aimed at protecting domestic steel mills from cheap shipments from China, especially after the US President Donald Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports to the US, which were later increased by another 25 per cent in June this year.
India mainly imports stainless steel, hot-rolled coil, plates, electrical sheets, galvanized plain or corrugated sheets, pipes, bars and rods from Beijing. Oversupply from the neighbouring country had disrupted global markets already.
In the fiscal year of 2025, India’s steel imports from China reached an all-time high of 6.5 million metric tonnes, a 26.6 per cent increase year-on-year, showed provisional data released by the Indian government.
China’s total imports of finished steel were at an eight-year high with India, which is the world’s second-largest crude steel producer.
From April-November, 2024, China’s steel shipment to India was at 1.96 million metric tonnes, a 22.8 per cent increase year-on-year.
The latest recommendation by the DGTR follows a temporary, 200-day, 12 per cent safeguard duty imposed by India in April after preliminary findings showed a steep increase in steel imports.
The DGTR has also said that a bulk of steel volumes are lying with manufacturers across the world.
Trump's import tariffs on steel have triggered a wave of trade frictions against Chinese steel, with countries including South Korea and Vietnam imposing anti-dumping levy.
Similarly, the Japanese steel industry lobby groups have also called for quick action to prevent evasion of anti-dumping duties and protect their domestic markets from unfair imports.
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