Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Mincit) is considering imposing an 8.5 percent import duty on rebar in addition to the current tariff rate of 10 percent, according to Colombian daily El Tiempo.
The ministry has published a draft decree open for public consultations until February 15. Once the measures are approved, they will be in force for two years. José Manuel Restrepo, Colombia’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, told El Tiempo that the additional tariff aims to control two factors that are distorting the Colombian rebar market. The first is that, due to excessive devaluations in the currencies of some producing countries, the country sees an excess of imports of rebar; the second, to avoid trade diversion caused by the Section 232 duties in the US.
Mr. Restrepo said that there are some significant arrivals of rebar coming from Turkey, as a result of the strong devaluation of the Turkish lira and there are also other large imports arriving, especially from China.