Foreign firms’ completed steel product imports should be taxed

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Local steel building makers yesterday urged the federal government to impose a duty over the import of done steel products by foreign companies to safeguard the domestic industry.

In addition they wanted the introduction of a uniform duty on the import of pre-fabricated recycleables of steel building products in the ultimate cover the incoming fiscal year.

The Steel Building Producers Association (SBMA) of Bangladesh built the needs through a virtual post-budget press conference from its office on Pragati Sarani in Dhaka.

The duty-free benefit, which foreign companies enjoy for import of finished steel products for the establishment of factories inside economical zones, should be withdrawn, said Jowher Rizvi, SBMA president.

They generate steel products from overseas although local manufacturers have already been making such products of global standards inside Bangladesh for years, he said.

Some international companies have been importing surplus finished steel goods exploiting the duty-no cost benefit and supplying those products to the wide open marketplace, creating unfair competition for the local manufacturers, he said.

There are 30 local prefabricated or infrastructure steel makers in Bangladesh, each one manufacturing specific items and straight adding to the country's infrastructure development.

"If the problem continues for years, it'll be tough for the neighborhood steel companies to survive. Hence, we urge the government to withdraw the work benefit and invite us to import metal recycleables with zero duty."

Native industries are providing necessary infrastructure materials to the federal government and the individual sector and helping them to save lots of lots of time and money.

"We can encounter the complete country's demand."

The industry for raw materials of prefabricated steel setting up has suffered a substantial financial loss as a result of outbreak of coronavirus as 95 % of the industrial recycleables are imported from China, Rizvi said.

Regarding to SBMA, the quickly growing prefabricated sector confronted severe challenges because of the postponement of infrastructure production work and failing to recover expenses of completed projects as a result of pandemic.

The prefabricated sector have been annually growing on typically 15 to 20 % in the last a decade and is now a Tk 4,500 crore-market, up from Tk 2,000 crore a decade ago, according to SBMA.

The country's total annual demand for prefabricated steel is about 10 lakh tonnes and local manufacturers could produce only 4 to 5 lakh tonnes. "The rest originates from India, China, Australia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan."

Steel infrastructure began showing up in Bangladesh found in 1985, with the components being initially imported.

In 2001, localized entrepreneurs first took up the initiative to build steel infrastructure by themselves, according to industry insiders.

The commercial importers pay 5 per cent customs duty for the import of recycleables of steel goods, whereas the rate hits 25 % for local steel manufacturers, said Md Rashed Khan, general secretary of SBMA.

"This duty disparity isn't good for the overall industry. That is why we required a uniform duty framework for the import of natural material for prefabricated industry."

The customs duty for native manufacturers should be significantly less than what the commercial importers purchase the sake of the country's industrialisation, he said.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net

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