FICO Demands Regulation of Steel Prices
The Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (FICO) opposed the unreasonable hike in the steel prices and demanded a committee to regulate the prices and its rationalisation from the Central Government. The steel prices have risen by Rs 3,000 per ton from September 1, 2020, which is unjustified to the MSMEs. A steep hike in steel prices is witnessed in routine and the industry is facing huge losses due to it as the previous orders have still not been executed. Moreover, with the opening of the lockdown, the industry is operational at around 40 per cent of its capacity, due to social distancing and other government SOPs. Though the demand of items has increased, the production capacity of the industry has not increased. Whereas, the steel prices have increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs10,000 per ton in the past 45 days, which is totally unacceptable as the source of income has come down in the absence of delayed payments, no orders, etc. The steel prices should be regulated by some regulatory authority, so that the industry could be saved, said KK Seth, chairman, FICO. The government should intervene and form a steel price regulatory committee and regulate the steel prices and rationalise them so that the industry could manufacture products and compete with the global market, he said.
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