Kolkata, Oct 22 (IANS) Prices of steel wires have gone down by nearly 20 percent in the last six weeks due to a fall in demand, a top official of the Steel Wire Manufacturers Association of India said here Wednesday.
'The prices have dropped from Rs.55,000-Rs.60,000 ($1,100-$1,200) per tonne to Rs.45,000-Rs.50,000 ($900-$1,000) per tonne,' said B.L. Jajodia, chairman of Steel Wire Manufacturers Association of India.
The export of steel wires, used in the infrastructure industry, dropped last financial year to 73,000 tonnes from 300,000 tonnes the year before in 2006-07.
'This year we expect to export 100,000 tonnes,' he said.
Talking about the 10 percent exemption of export duty announced by the government on steel wire, Jajodia said government should do away with the duty as this is resulting in price escalation of the product and the exporters are loosing established markets abroad.
The total value of the steel wire industry is estimated to be Rs.49 billion ($1 billion).
The association is hopeful that it will collectively manufacture 1.5 million tonnes of steel wires this fiscal. There are about 64 manufacturers in this sector.
The major players in this sector are Tata Steel, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Ramsarup Group and the Steel Authority of India Limited.
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