Kiran

MUMBAI : Doemstic steel makers on Sunday warned that extension of moratorium on steel prices beyond August 7 will amount to taking back the sector to an era of controls besides severely hampering the growth of the industry.

"It appears that we have gone back to an era of controls. The Government is asking for daily sales data, fortnightly export figures and holding price monitoring committee meetings every month," steel industry sources said.

The three-month moratorium on holding steel prices ends on August 7 and any extension of the control through the back door will not augur well for the industry, they said adding, however, so far there was no clear-cut indication of extending the moratorium from the government.

A number of steel players including Tata Steel and JSW Steel had earlier stated that there was a need to increase prices as the existing difference between international and domestic steel prices is around US $350 per tonne. In addition, the prices of raw materials have hit the roof resulting in a squeeze in margins.

Iron ore prices, steel companies said, have almost doubled in the last one year and coal prices increased by 300 per cent in the same period making cost of steel production higher by US $350 per tonne.

"The price holding is not only impacting the bottomline of the steel companies, but also hampering further growth of the industry as project investments are bound to be either delayed or called off," they said.

Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had recently asked state-owned SAIL to hold prices and to pursue its peers in the private sector to follow suit.