The Steel Building Manufacturers Association (SBMA) on Sunday urged the government to withdraw all existing fiscal facilities on the importing of ‘steel building finished goods’ by foreign companies as a safeguard to protect local manufacturers.
The association made the demand in a virtual press briefing at its office in the capital.
SMBA General Secretary Md Rashed Khan said the government provided duty-free facilities to import steel finished products.
The advantage was being enjoyed by some foreign companies for their establishments in BEZA, power plants and LNG units, he added.
Local steel building manufacturers have the ability to produce international standards steel finished products, he said.
Rashed Khan alleged some foreign companies have been importing excess finished steel goods, flouting duty-free import regulations and supplying those to open markets.
Currently, commercial importers pay a 5% customs duty (CD) in importing steel goods, whereas local steel manufacturers are paying a 25% CD for importing their raw materials.
“Local steel manufacturers will face dire consequences if this situation prevails long. So, we urge the government to withdraw duty-free import facilities on finished steel products and allow us to import steel raw materials at zero duty,” he said.
“The customs duty should be lower for local manufacturers than those of commercial importers in the greater interest of the country’s industrialization,” he observed.
They also demanded the reduction of customs duties on imported raw materials used in manufacturing steel building products.
Saying that local steel manufacturing companies are capable of fulfilling all domestic steel demand, SMBA President Jowher Rizvi urged the government to allow SBMA members to participate in government tenders to supply steel-made goods.
The SMBA President said the raw materials of the pre-fabricated steel building industry suffered a significant financial loss due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic as 95% of the industrial raw materials were imported from China.
Since December till now, about 30 prefabricated steel building industries under the SBMA and about another 200 other factories not belonging to the association, have counted losses of about Tk10,000 crore.
He urged the quick disbursement of stimulus funding declared by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to restore the pandemic shattered economy.
In recent years, prefabricated steel buildings have become popular as these establishments are affordable, earthquake tolerant and good for entrepreneurs as it helps maintain global compliance standards at a lower cost.
Nearly 0.2 million people directly, and another 0.8 million indirectly, were involved with the sector, while more than 0.1 million workers and employees are in fear of losing their jobs due to the pandemic, the association leaders warned.