November 21, 2008

Bangladeshi steel mills demand duty waiver on scrap import

Bangladesh’s The New Nation reported that steel makers and rolling mills have demanded waiving duty on melting scrap as has been done by India in its new budget to keep the price down.

Mr Sheikh Masadul Alam Masud general secretary of Bangladesh Steel & Re rolling Mills Association demanded similar measures as were taken in India to keep the steel products down in the domestic market. He added that the exiting framework, the duty is 10% on the import of raw materials melting and re rolling scraps.

Similarly, he said, the duty on chemicals used in steel industry is as high as 28% that contributed to the high price of their products. He added that melting scrap rod price has now gone up to BDT 60,000 per tonne as against below BDT 40,000 a few months ago.

India has withdrawn 5% duty on iron, steel melting scrap and aluminum scrap and the excise duty slashed to 14% from 16%. The measure has been taken in view of international price of copper that more than Doubled to USD 500 per tonne over the past one year and price of aluminum gone up by about one third giving significant rise in the domestic market.

The annual demand of melting scrap rod in Bangladesh is estimated at about 2.3 million tonnes for construction works, which is supplied by about 100 steel and 300 re rolling mills. The steel and re rolling millers produce the steel from imported melting scrap and scraps of old ships.