PAKISTAN’S iron and steel sector stakeholders said the government’s ill-planning and lack of regulatory oversight distorted the industry.
Investment and growth in the steel sector will remain restricted if price distortions continued, they said criticising the policy makers on Thursday (17).
After failing to run Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), the policy makers are now bent on destroying units in private sector, industry leaders said.
“The capacity of Pakistan Steel was only 1.2 million tonnes per annum and the government could not run it,” Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry vice president Mian Akram Fareed said.
“(Compared to this), the production of only Mughal and Amreli Steel is more than 2million tonnes annually. Instead of respecting the private sector, officials are creating disturbances for investors,” he added.
The government’s decision to abolish Federal Excise Duty (FED) for around 40 units in former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will damage the entire industry, the stakeholders said.
After abolishing FED for steel units in Fata, the products from that part will be cheaper by up to Rs27,000 (£124.7) per tonne, said Abbas Akberali, the patron-in-chief of Pakistan Association of Large Steel Producers.
“Just because tax exempted goods are sold in major markets across the country, the main industry is making losses,” he said.
Bobby Bawa