Photo provided by the Metal Containers Manufacturers Association of India.
Household consumers and packaging firms around the world have been selecting metal packaging as an easily recycled option to meet sustainability goals that are growing in prominence. In India right now, however, a government-imposed import restriction is limiting the production of steel cans, according to a trade association in the nation.
The New Delhi-based Metal Containers Manufacturers Association (MCMA) says the metal packaging sector in the nation “is in a dilemma as they have hardly any option left to secure raw material, as most of the global players and suppliers of tinplate/tin-free steel have raised their hands to supply to India in the wake of the imposition of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)” enforcement.
The BIS measure in question dates back to July 2020, when India’s Ministry of Steel issued an order mandating BIS certification “on the major inputs required by the industry, like tinplate and tin-free steel. It imposes restrictions on steel products like easy-open ends, peel off ends, which the industry imports from several foreign countries,” states MCMA.
“This industry, which is largely dependent upon the import of tinplate/tin-free steel from various countries, is under tremendous pressure as there is a shortage of raw material and the prices have escalated more than 15 percent recently,” according to the association.
MCMA president Sanjay Bhatia describes MCMA as an organization that represents the interests of companies involved in the production of metal containers, packaging and allied components. The association predicts “there is going to be an acute shortage of raw material” if import restrictions stay in place.
MCMA says it has been seeking to put the implementation of the July order on hold until “sufficient quantities of tinplate/tin-free steel [are] produced locally to meet the industry’s demand of 700,000 metric tons per annum, as the industry is already reeling under the pressure due to the pandemic enforced lockdown across the country.”
Following feedback from the MCMA, the government has postponed the order until April 17, 2021, but the Indian steel industry may need until March 2022 to ramp up domestic capacity, the organization estimates.
Bhatia and the MCMA estimate that “there is still a demand supply gap of 250,000 metric tons per annum” and if the BIS inspection is implemented too soon, it will “seriously affect the trade and industry engaged in the metal packaging sector, and will result in loss of employment and non-availability of metal packaging to essential sectors like food and pharma.”