labels: Agriculture, Steel
Government slaps export duties on steel, basmati rice to check prices news
29 April 2008

The government has imposed export duties on steel and basmati rice and lowered import duties on more products in a bid to contain rising prices, finance minister P Chidambaram told parliament today.

The government has announced up to 15 per cent export duty on semi-finished steel products and five per cent duty on galvanised sheets. It also slapped export taxes on basmati rice in a bid to boost domestic supplies and help moderate inflation.

Chidambaram said the government would levy an export tax of Rs8,000 ($200) per tonne of basmati rice, but would bring down the minimum export price to $1,000 per tonne from $1,200. The government has already banned exports of non-basmati rice.

Global rice prices have more than doubled on fears of tight supplies after leading producers, including India and Vietnam, restricted exports.

"The margins of exporters of this item have been rising as a result of buoyancy in international prices," Chidambaram said.

He also announced zero customs duty on basic steel-making inputs like metcoke, ferro-alloys and zinc and the abolishion of the countervailing duty on construction products like TMT bars.

Steel prices have contributed 21.3 per cent to the current inflation in the country, he pointed out. However, he said, India faced no fear of food shortages with bumper harvests of both rice and wheat expected this year.

The announcement of fresh Indian curbs on rice exports comes a day after the Philippines asked the World Bank to persuade exporting nations to lift shipment curbs that have threatened world food supplies.

However, US rice futures fell over 2.5 per cent today, retreating further from last week's record highs even as top exporter Thailand said it would release government stocks amidst fresh Asian supplies.


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Government slaps export duties on steel, basmati rice to check prices