As the minimum import price is set to lapse on 66 steel products, sources say that the government is unlikely to extend MIP on steel products will not be extended. Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma said anti-dumping duty is the long-term arrangement for imports. She added that of the 66 items, 36 items will be pushed under the ambit of anti-dumping duty. Sharma said that the anti-dumping is WTO-complaint and can be levied for five years. She added that anti-dumping duty per country will be imposed based on evidence. Further, she said that the government will opt for MIP in TMT and Slabs if international prices fall but present there's not need to have antidumping duty on TMT due to higher international prices. Below is the verbatim transcript of Aruna Sharma's interview to Nigel D'Souza on CNBC-TV18. Q: We want some clarity on those 66 products. We believe that minimum import price (MIP) is not going to be extended but as you had told us earlier, you were working on some anti-dumping duty. On how many of those 66 products will we see some extension, we will see anti-dumping duty coming in and MIP going off the table? A: The MIP is a patchwork kind of an arrangement and the long-term arrangement is always anti-dumping. Therefore, on August 4 when we examined the whole thing, out of 173 products, which in February '16 wherein MIP, we pushed 107 tariff lines into anti-dumping, so now that is a long-term thing of five years and that is based on evidence. So this kind of a trauma of having MIP or not having MIP after every couple of months is done away with. However, what was balanced was 66 tariff line - that is 173 minus 107, out of that on 27 already orders have been issued for wire rods, so that is 15 tariff lines are gone. So out of 66, 15 are out. Coated sheets, which covers 21 tariff lines - that will be issued in a fortnight, so that will also shift into anti-dumping. So you will be left with only 30 tariff lines and that is of TMT and slabs. Let me explain. In TMT the import is only 3 percent of the total steel and today's price of TMT is USD 330 free-on-board (FOB); ranging from USD 330 to USD 340 and China it is 449 to 451. Our domestic price is lower than that, so there is no need to have an anti-dumping here unless and until these people suddenly reduce the price lesser than the domestic price and lesser than their cost of production, so only then there will be a need for having any MIP arrangement to give the protection for the TMT. The same applies to semis. Semis import is only 5 percent and today price is USD 345 and our MIP, in the old one, was USD 341. So in case these prices start falling, so we as a watchdog are observing it, so that immediately we can go with an evidence for the MIP for these 230 lines which is in TMT and slabs that is semis. Q: Out of these 66 products, you told us that for 36 products, there is going to be some kind of protection that will come in? A: Issued.
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