Prices of steel would soon stabilize: Virbhadra Singh

Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), May 2 (ANI): Union Minister of Steel Virbhadra Singh has said prices of steel in India would soon stabilize.

"I think within two or three months the steel prices will reduce substantially. The prices also surged substantially when I became the minister, it surged to Rs 6,000 per tonne then it reduced later," said Virbhadra Singh.

"The international prices and things like raw material affect the prices," he added.

Prices of iron ore and coking coal, key inputs in the alloy, have been surging mainly on the back of reviving demand from China and India.

The government had recently raised the export duty on iron ore lumps by 5 percent to safeguard domestic supplies to steel makers as the global iron ore prices surged since the second half of the last year.

The government raised taxes on iron ore lumps from 10 per cent to 15 per cent after the steel makers cried hoarse to stop the runaway exports of the mineral to China and to improve local supplies of the raw material used in steel production.

The steel output for the 2009/10 financial year that ended in March was at 59.58 million tonnes, from 57.16 million tonnes produced a year ago. (ANI)