Malaysian government bans export of steel bar and billet provisionally

Malaysian government bans export of steel bar and billet provisionally

According to recent news in the market, Malaysian government announced that it determined to impose provisional ban on exports of steel billet and bars. The decision, which was given back on February 25, 2004, will be applied retrospectively and be in effect for six months. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Malaysian steel industry has been suffering from supply problem and the government has been working on certain solutions to help domestic producers. The measures taken by Malaysian government so far included lifting of import licensing on steel billets and bars and allowing steel producer to increase their price in a range of 26.9% to 30.3%. However, despite the measures taken, supply problem still stands as a problem from local steel producers. Upon these developments, the government has decided to ban exports of bar and billet for a six-month period. Moreover, import duties on steel billet and bar from non-ASEAN and ASEAN countries, which are currently 15% and 5% respectively will be lifted to be effective as of February 25, 2004 retrospectively till August 25, 2004.