Staff Reporter :
The leaders of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association (BSBRA) on Sunday demanded reduction of import duty and VAT on scrap ships for stabilizing the prices of rods (iron).
They placed the demand while speaking at a pre-budget discussion with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) the conference room of the revenue board in the city.
NBR’s Member (Duty policy) Masud Sadik presided over the discussion, while Zakia Sultana (Member, VAT policy) and Shams Uddin Ahmed (Member, Tax policy), among others, were present
Speaking at the discussion, Kamal Uddin, Vice-President of the BSBRA) said, the prices of scrap ships have increased from $350 to $630 per tonne in the international markets.
On the other hand, the shipping costs have increased significantly as the price of the dollar has gone up from Tk 85 to Tk 90, resulting, the prices of iron and iron-goods have soared abnormally in the local markets, he said.
For the adverse impact on the raw materials of the country’s construction sector, the implementation of various development projects is being hampered, Kamal said. Rod prices in the country rose to Tk 80,700 per tonne because of the persistent high prices of the raw materials globally. The prices jumped by 45 per cent in the past one year as millers hiked the rates in the wake of spiraling scrap prices in the international market.
Now, it is being retailed at Tk 80,700 per tonne, up from Tk 53,000 a year ago.
Following this situation, the BSBRA proposed for reduction of the import duty on scrap ships from Tk 1500 to Tk 500 and VAT Tk 500 from Tk 1000 per tonne to keep stable the construction raw materials, he proposed.
He said the ship-breaking industry which supplies raw materials for the country’s steel and iron sector is suffering a huge loss because of imposition of Advance Tax (AT) on import of scrap ships and the ongoing pandemic.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Ocean Going Ship Owners Association demanded reduction of Advance Tax (AT) transportation fare.
On an average, over three million metric tonnes of scrap ships were imported annually by Bangladesh before the imposition of the AT in 2019 and Covid-19 outbreak, which was more than 25 per cent of total scrap ships of the world.
The total turnover of the ship-breaking industry is around Tk 50 billion (Tk 5,000 crore) per year. A total of four types of old vessels are scrapped on shipyards of Sitakunda.
