The inclusion of steel in India’s ongoing RCEP negotiations that propose to extend free trade agreements (FTA) to China along with Australia and New Zealand will excessively harm the local steel industry by opening floodgates to Chinese imports from the largest steel producing nation.
Industry captains and experts have called on the government to “exercise caution” while finalising the multi-lateral trade agreement.
“Our plea is that even if RCEP negotiations are finalised, Indian steel industry which has suffered in the past even under the current FTA arrangements with 13 countries, should be excluded from its purview,” Seshagiri Rao, joint MD at JSW Steel.
Rao said steel imports have increased by 45% from April to August this year at 8.6 lakh tonnes and FTA imports account for 65% of the total finished steel goods imports during the period. Proportion of imports coming from FTA, including ASEAN, Japan and Korea, was 77% in August alone.
The government is also reviewing the current India-ASEAN FTA that came into force in 2010.
