Faced with shortages and high prices of steel, Indian domestic pipe manufacturers have petitioned the government seeking market intervention and a temporary ban on exports by Indian steel mills, the Indian Pipe Manufacturers’ Association (IPMA) said on Thursday, April 22.
The association said that it has submitted a petition to India’s steel minister pointing out that domestic steel mills had achieved almost 50 percent of their sales volumes through exports creating a shortage of availability of steel for pipe manufacturing.
Steel prices have increased by 60 percent between July 2020 and April 2021, and the majority of pipe manufacturers are faced with executing unviable orders for pipes as buyers are not willing to absorb higher prices of steel, the association said in its communication.
The association said that pipes were a critical input for the oil and gas industry and, unless supplies could be assured at viable prices, the government’s target of increasing the share of natural gas in the country’s total energy production to 15 percent from 6.4 percent by 2030 will not be achieved.