Steel makers to hold price for one month

摘要

NEW DELHI: In a move to help the Centre rein in inflation, steel producers on Thursday assured Finance Minister P. Chidambaram that they would not raise prices this month even though input costs were on the rise and affecting their margins. At a meeting with Mr. Chidambaram and other top Ministry officials here, the steel industry magnates, however, stressed that the export duty on iron ore at Rs. 300 a tonne, as announced in the budget for 2007-08, should stay, the raw material being a critical input for the sector. Speaking to newspersons after the meeting, the Senior Vice-President of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Asso-cham), Sajjan Jindal (of the Jindal Steel group), said: "We will not increase the prices for the month of April, but will review the situation next month."