Despite being sufficiently capacitated to meet domestic demand for seamless pipes and tubes, local industry is losing out to Chinese imports that cost less than those by domestic manufacturers, claimed India’s seamless tube manufacturers’ association in its letter to the government, urging it to put curbs on the influx of Chinese imports.
The Seamless Tube Manufacturers' Association of India (STMAI) said on Thursday that despite strong support from the government through various safeguard measures to protect the domestic seamless pipe industry, Chinese pipe imports have increased exponentially over the last 3-4 years.
Priced lower in the Indian market than those by domestic seamless pipe manufacturers, Chinese importers reportedly declare inflated invoice values at the time of customs clearance, thereby undermining fair trade and putting Indian producers at a serious disadvantage, said STMAI President, Shiv Kumar Singhal.
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“The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence should investigate into this,” he said, and added that the domestic seamless pipes and tubes industry has an installed capacity of approximately 1.95 million metric tonnes (MMT), which is “more than sufficient” to meet the total Indian demand of 1.32 million metric tonnes.
Having made significant investments over the past few decades to develop a wide range of import-substitute products in India, including oxygen cylinder pipes and drill pipes, the Indian stainless steel industry is aligned with the government's ‘Make-in-India’ initiative, he said.
But, domestic mills continue to struggle for orders, with a large portion of their substantial production capacities remaining underutilised, Singhal lamented.
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