Import under concessionary regime: steel sector wants EDB to issue NOC

The Engineering Development Board (EDB) should be empowered to issue NOC for a specific period of time to facilitate import of different steel items under concessionary regime, which are either short in supply or not manufactured by the Pakistan Steel Mills.
Sources told Business Recorder the proposal for NOC to be issued by the EDB for import of different items that may include hot rolled (HR), cold rolled (CR) and galvanised iron (GI) sheets was floated during a meeting held recently between the EDB and representatives of the steel sector to discuss problems being confronted by users of sheets metal and gave recommendations for making the sector competitive.
The representative of the industry briefed EDB CEO Imtiaz Rastgar in detail about availability of coils/sheets in the country, quality issues being faced by users, price fluctuation, mechanism to decrease the cost of production, and need of necessary measures for the growth of this sector.
The meeting called for devising a mechanism to make the sheet metal industry more competitive by reducing the industrial cost of production and ensuring consistent supplies while the industry asked the EDB to look into the tax structure and take rationale measures, highlighting disparity in treatment given to commercial and industrial imports. The EDB was asked for provision of a level playing field: both for commercial and industrial importers.
The meeting also underlined the need for the establishment of coil centres, having slitting facilities for supply of cut-to-size or specific cut-to-size sheets, besides authorising the EDB for issuance of NOC instead of Pakistan Steel Mills to facilitate imports under concessionary regime for the products either not manufactured locally or delayed/short supplied, the industry demanded.
The industry wanted the Pakistan Steels to adjust its prices immediately in line with fluctuation in the international market and should make efforts for the production of quality products. It was also proposed a mechanism should be evolved to address the issue of under-invoicing and smuggling of steel products.