The New Nation - Internet Edition

Owners of steel and re-rolling mills have urged the government to adopt some immediate measures to help bring down the prices of mild steel (MS) rods. MS rod is selling in the current week between Tk 61,000 and Tk 72,000 per ton, 64 percent more costly than that of last year. High price of this important building material has seriously hampered construction works at public and private levels. It resulted in sharp decrease in the demand of rods and decrease of steel production. This, in its turn, has left an adverse impact on a host of backward linkage industries and sufferings to thousands of workers.

The government had recently formed a committee to find out the cause behind the price hike. The committee identified monopoly control of the market allegedly by a syndicate as responsible for the market volatility. The committee recommended reduction of duty on import of rods to make the business competitive. The millers demanded implementation of the probe body report, which recommended duty cut and opening up the import of raw materials for the steel industries. They said that melting scraps and billets should enjoy a fixed minimum duty. It is now as high as 10 per cent of import values. They also demanded withdrawal of all taxes on import of necessary chemicals and, at the same time, reduction of tariff and VAT in the production, handling and transportation of steel products. Along with those measures, they asked for granting tax holiday to new industries. They believe the prices of steel materials including MS rod will come down to reasonable levels if the demands are fulfilled.

The recovery of the steel sector demands a focused attention. The government must take up an integrated plan with long-term and short-term objectives aiming at the overall development of the steel industry on which development of a number of key sectors like construction, housing, transportation and engineering work depends.