India's secondary steel makers to cut prices - govt

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's secondary steel makers will cut prices by 4,000 rupees per tonne, the top government official in the steel ministry said on Wednesday, as the authorities stepped up efforts to contain inflation.

Steel Secretary R.S. Pandey said the producers, including Jindal Saw Ltd and Bhushan Steel Ltd, had agreed to lower the prices and hold them for three months.

Secondary producers, which make products such as cold-rolled steel used in automobiles and pipes and tubes for construction, have a combined output of 7 million tonnes a year, he said.

"The secondary steel producers have agreed to cut prices of flat products," Pandey said, after meeting senior executives from companies.

Steel producers say input costs are rising but the government, striving to control inflation that has surged to a 3-½ high of 7.6 percent, has imposed an export tax on steel and has persuaded big producers like Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India Ltd to cut prices.