New Delhi, May 13: The finance ministry will consider lowering the export duty on steel only after prices stabilise in the domestic market.

Finance ministry officials said steel makers had sought relief from the export tax “but no promises were made on rolling them back. That decision is the sovereign right of the government and will depend on the domestic price scenario”.

Steel majors had buckled to state pressure and agreed to cut rates by Rs 4,000 a tonne.

Steel makers led by SAIL chairman S.K. Roongta and Jindal Steel vice-chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal promised not to raise prices in the next three months at a meeting with Prime Minster Manmohan Singh.

Companies had earlier raised prices by about Rs 5,000 a tonne, though Tata Steel and SAIL had refrained from doing so. This had prompted the finance minister to accuse steel makers of forming a price cartel. Officials said inter-ministerial meetings on steel prices saw both the finance and steel ministries suggesting tough measures which included price controls and limits on stocks.

“We will review taxes, including the possibility of imposing fresh ones on iron ore exports at an appropriate time,” officials said.

Earlier this month, the government had ordered state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd to pull out of the Indian Steel Alliance, an outfit floated by steel makers, forcing the body to disband itself.

The government has been trying to combat soaring inflation fuelled by rising prices of food, cement and steel. It was unhappy with steel makers who kept raising prices despite warnings. In April, the government imposed a 15 per cent export duty on steeland cut import taxes on mild and semi-finished steel to zero.