Tata Steel, JSW Steel and other metal stocks jump up to 5% as Government imposes import tariff on steel products

Tata Steel and other metal stocks are trading higher in early morning trades on December 31. Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, Lloyds Metals And Energy, SAIL and other metal stocks rose up 5% on NSE, while NIFTY Metal index jumped 1.4% as of 11:30 am on NSE.

Sharp surge in metal stocks comes as Indian government imposed a three-year import tariff of up to 12% on ceratin steel products from April 21 2025. Import tariffs comes to curb import of cheap steel and aligned products from China, Vietnam and Nepal and other countries.

As per experts, import tariffs is expected to support domestic steel companies like Tata Steel, JSW Steel and others. Currently, domestic steel prices are at par with imported steel prices but if safeguard duty is imposed then it will make domestic steel prices more cheaper by up to 12% compared to imported steel from some countries like China. This will directly protect the margin and revenue of domestic companies.

The import tariff which is also called as safeguard duty will applicable on hot rolled coils, sheets and plates, hot rolled plate mill plates, cold rolled coils and sheets and others. Meanwhile, duty will not apply to specialty steel products such as stainless steel.

This new import duty will be 12% when imports are made during the April 21 2025 to April 20, 2026 period, fall to 11.5% for April 21, 2026 to April 20, 2027 period and then to 11% for the April 21, 2027 to April 20, 2028 time period.

Safeguard duty structure was first proposed in August 2025 and was awaiting final approval from Finance Ministry. Before this, the Indian Government had announced temporary relief of 12% tariff for 200-days from April 2025, which had ended on November 6.