Bangladesh Govt Increases Import Duty on Billet

The government has increased duty by USD 25 to safeguard the local manufacturers in the country.

Bangladesh government on 4 June’15 announced the Budget FY16 in which the ministry proposed an increase of BDT 2,000/MT(USD 25) in duty for billet imports in the country.

Previously the duty levied by the country for billet import was around BDT 5,000/MT (USD 65) which is now increased to BDT 7,000/MT (USD 90) w.e.f July’15.

Bangladesh government for the second consecutive year has increased the import duty on billet. It has done so to safeguard its domestic industry from aggressive billet imports and promote the in-house consumption.

The country in coming years is expected to double its capacity for billet making. But cheaper offers for billet from countries like China, Russia and India are continuous threat to domestic manufacturers in Bangladesh. Hence it became important for the government to control the imports by increasing the duty.

On the above event a re-roller based in Bangladesh shared, “We have already imported billet for coming two-three months, but once the stock is consumed, the resistance would be definitely seen for importing billet at a higher cost. It would only work out if the imported offers for billet soften further.”

Import Duty change in Bangladesh

Import Duty in BDT/MT
Source: Ministry of Finance Bangladesh

How will it affect the Indian steel industry?

Bangladesh is one of the important markets for Indian billet export. Increase in around 40% in import duty will definitely resist Bangladeshi manufacturers from aggressively importing billets for steel making. This would result in either lower bids in Indian export tenders or decline in export numbers.

Global Billet Offers

Source: SteelMint Research

Bangladesh Taka (BDT) was last recorded on 8 June’15 at 78.78 against USD