STEEL EXPORT TO CHINA
RAJYA SABHA
China is currently
the largest consumer and importer of steel in the world. As per
IISI estimates, China consumed 211 million metric tonnes of finished
steel products in 2002. Its consumption is estimated to reach
240 million metric tonnes by 2005.
China has imposed
safeguard measures in the form of quotas on five categories of
steel items with additional tariff in case the imports exceed
the relevant quota. These measures do not apply to India. The
exemption is subject to the condition that import share of India
in a particular category should not exceed 3 per cent of China's
total import volume in that category.
India exported
primary and semi-finished iron and steel worth Rs. 2352 crore
and iron and steel bar/rod worth Rs. 42 crore to china during
the year 2002-03.
There is no imminent
threat to Indian export of iron and steel from China. At present,
China is a net importer of steel and its average import during
the last three years was 25 million metric tonnes per year which
is likely to touch 30 million metric tonnes per year in near future.
On the other hand export of steel by China has remained between
5 to 7 million metric tonnes per year.
This information
was given by the Minister for Steel Shri Braja Kishore Tripathy
in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
