Indian steel manufacturers might face a slight glitch in the supply of Ferro Silicon, as the Ministry of Steel has passed an order in the month of February to include the alloy under mandatory certification by April 2020.
“This order may be called the Steel and Steel Products (Quality Control) Order, 2019. It shall come into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. It shall apply to steel and steel products … except for steel and steel products for export which conform to any other specification required by a foreign buyer,” said the order dated 22nd July 2019.
While the order was dated 22nd July 2019, companies in Bhutan and Norway and other countries, major suppliers of Ferro Silicon, came to know about it around February 20th.
India imports around 300,000 tonnes of Ferro Silicon from various countries like Bhutan, Norway and China every year and out of which only 1/3 rd is manufactured in India. If the deadline is not extended, the steel companies might have a shortage of Ferro Silicon.
“This regulation might lead to an increase in the price of Ferro Silicon to unreasonable level due to scarcity of it after 22nd of April 2020.
A few companies, including a Bhutan-based company have applied for the license only in February and are yet to be cleared. This will take a long time, about 9-13 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment