KARACHI: The steel industry has urged the government to impose 40 per cent regulatory duty on import of steel billets, bars and wire-rods.
The Pakistan Steel Melters Association (PSMA) and Large Scale Re-Rollers (LSR), representing a majority of Pakistan’s steel industry, has asked the government to increase duty from 15pc, which was levied in January 2015 and the government earned handsome revenue.
The steel industry is having a processing capacity of over four million tonnes per year, an investment base of over 100 billion, and contributing over 20bn to the national exchequer each year.
The imposition of 15pc regulatory duty was nullified because of increased dumping margins by foreign manufacturers, reduction in customs valuations and falling prices of steel in the international market. The steel oversupply problem in the world is getting more acute and that is resulting in governments handing out subsidies disguised under policy initiatives to keep their steel industries alive.
Those reliant on steel imports have also not been priced out of the market as over 80,000 tonnes of steel billets were imported since the levy and LSM growth has been positive in the steel sector, an official of PSMA said.
