Over more than 400 small and medium-sized steel re-rolling mills, without having furnaces, rely on imported re-rollable materials and rolled billets as their raw materials. Small and medium-sized units are more labour-incentive compared to large steel producers. Consequently, we are on the verge of bankruptcy which will leave hundreds of thousands unemployed.
We, therefore, request the government to kindly take the following measures to provide relief, a level-playing field and stimulus in order to avoid factories closure and unemployment.
Abolish duties (RS, CD, ACD) on steel re-rolling industry primary raw materials, having the following PCT codes:
* Steel re-rollable materials PCT 7204.4910, 7204.1010.
* Rolled billets PCT 7207.1110, 7207.1210, 7207.2090 (anti-dumping duty also to be removed and status to be brought as in 2007-08 at the time of Pakistan Steel Mills was operating.
Turnover tax to be reduced to 0.25 percent for the next three years.
Interest on all banking loans may not be accrued for the period of lockdown and interest rate should be immediately reduced to five percent.
The requirement of CNIC for Rs 50,000 and above sales be deferred till June 2022 to be at par with the construction industry and be a part of the package being the second most important allied industry.
Benchmark set for production should be rationalized, large steel producers consume:
(Melting approx. 500 units + rolling 130 unites) while small and medium industry (melting approx. 800 units + rolling 130 units). We request you to kindly assess the large-scale and small units separately to 100 percent sales tax collection and let all manufacturers be able to survive.
The government must ensure no import of raw material be sabotaged for steel re-rolling mills by (melters, ship breakers) leading to non-availability of invoices for actual price charges and disallowing of deduction of withholding tax resulting in closure of mills.
We respectfully urge the government to consult our association on the relief measures and the upcoming budget as small and medium steel re-rolling mills play a vital role in creating employment and provide steel products at cheaper rates as compared to those by large automatic mills.
The Pakistan Steel Re-Rolling Mills' Association Karachi
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