It now sets a floor price for steel imports below which the commoditycannot be imported.

"The steel sector which has been passing through a difficult phase in therecent past is finally looking up. We expect prices to firm up," steelminister BK Tripathi told a news conference.

Steel secretary Ashok Basu said average domestic prices of various steelproducts, which rose by three per cent last year, was expected to rise by atleast five per cent this year.

Tripathi, who was sworn in to prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's councilof ministers on Saturday, said the government would do its best to givedomestic steel firms a "level-playing field".