SBMA demands withdrawal of duty-free facility

Import of steel building finished goods

FE Team | Published: June 14, 2020 23:44:46

Steel Building Manufacturers Association (SBMA) of Bangladesh demanded on Sunday withdrawing the existing facilities of importing duty-free 'steel building finished goods' by foreign companies as a safeguard measure to protect the local manufacturers, reports BSS.
The body also urged a cut in customs duties on import of pre-fabricated raw materials of steel building products in the national budget for the fiscal year 2020-21.
SMBA made the demand at a post-budget press briefing, addressed by its president Jowher Rizvi and general secretary Md Rashed Khan, at its office in the city, said a press release.
Jowher Rizvi said the raw materials for the pre-fabricated steel building industry suffered a significant financial loss due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic as 95 per cent of the industrial raw materials are imported from China.
Rashed Khan said the government provides duty-free import facilities on steel finished products to some foreign companies for their establishments in BEZA, power plants and LNG units despite local steel building manufacturers having the ability of producing international standard products in their factories here with all modern equipment.
He said some foreign companies have been importing surplus finished steel products exploiting the government's duty-free import facilities and supplying those products to the open market that put the local steel manufacturers in an unfair competition.
"The existence of local steel manufacturers will be at stake, if this situation prevails long. So, we urge the government to withdraw duty-free import facilities on finished steel products and rather allow us to import steel raw materials with zero duty for our further flourishment," he said.
The SBMA general secretary further pointed out that the commercial importers were paying 5.0 per cent customs duty (CD) on import of steel goods whereas local steel manufacturers are paying 25 per cent CD while importing their raw materials.
"The customs duty should be less for the manufacturers than the commercial importers in the greater interest of the country's industrialization," he observed.
Mentioning that the local steel manufacturer companies have the capabilities to fulfill the entire steel demand of Bangladesh's market, Rizvi urged the government to allow the SBMA members to participate in the government's tenders.