JSW Steel has reduced long product prices by ₹1,000 a tonne and flat steel prices by ₹500-750 a tonne due to sluggish demand and cheap imports from China flooding the market.

The cut in prices comes at a time when the industry is facing a huge increase in production cost. While iron ore prices internationally are on the downtrend, it is on the constant rise in the domestic market after the mining curbs imposed in Karnataka, Goa and Jharkhand.

Jayant Acharya, Director (Commercial and Marketing), JSW Steel, said despite demand falling, the country has imported 8.7 lakh tonnes in August.

China has been dumping TMT bars, used largely in the construction industry, in the guise of alloy bars by adding baron. China offers an export rebate of 13 per cent on alloy bar export. Even after paying an import duty of five per cent in India, the alloy bars imported from China work out to be cheaper than TMT bars produced in India, said Acharya.

This apart, he alleged that the alloy bars that were being imported from China did not meet with the Bureau of Indian Standard specifications, and posed a major threat to people.

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