Bangladesh mulls increasing import duty on steel billets

The proposed budget for the financial year 2013-14 issued by Bangladesh's Ministry of Finance suggests imposing ad valorem duty on billet imports, citing the large amount of recent investments made to add 1.8-2 million mt of new capacities to domestic billet production, once these new investments reach full capacity. In the interim period, the existing duty on billet imports standing at BDT 2,500/mt ($32/mt) is expected to rise to BDT 3,500/mt ($45/mt) to protect the growing new industries from uneven competition from foreign billets.
 
While rolling mills express their concerns about the new adjustments on billet import duty, local billet producers state that such a small duty increase is not sufficient to close the gap between the production cost of local billets and the market price of imported ones, according to Bangladesh-based English language daily Financial Express.