The Hindu : Business / Briefly : Plea to reduce raw material prices

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Friday, Aug 13, 2004

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Business - Briefly

Plea to reduce raw material prices

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association has appealed to the Centre to "restrict" export of iron ore and steel materials temporarily and to reduce the import duty on items like pig iron and coke to bring down the raw material price. In a release, its president, J. Balu, said that pig iron, steel and coke were some of the main raw materials for the foundries and engineering units here. The monthly requirement of pig iron for foundries was about 20,000 tonnes. A couple of years ago, the cost of pig iron was around Rs. 8,000 a tonne. It had gone up to Rs. 26,000 a tonne during the last one year. Similarly, the prices of steel items such as sheets, "structurals" and rods had also increased by more than 50 per cent in the last few months. Though the pig iron rates had come down a few months ago, "all of a sudden, the prices have increased by 10 per cent in the last few days." He pleaded that the Centre should take "effective steps" to bring down the prices of pig iron, coke, steel and copper.

Our Staff Reporter

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