KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation (Misif) is willing, able and ready to resort to all available avenues to protect the domestic iron and steel industry’s interest.
In a statement on Tuesday, the federation said it was of the firm view that Megasteel Sdn Bhd’s petition was without merit and any imposition of safeguard measures and further protection measures in the form of the proposed special purpose vehicle to bail out an insolvent company was contrary to public interest.
To recap, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) had initiated a safeguard investigation on imports of hot rolled coils (HRC) based on a petition lodged by Megasteel, the country’s largest HRC producer.
In its petition, Megasteel had requested the Government to impose safeguard duties on the imports of HRC at the rate of 40% on top of the existing 15% import duties on HRC, with the rate to be gradually reduced over a four-year period.
Misif said all interested parties and stakeholders had filed their written submissions to oppose the petition to the ministry.
“Any safeguard duties on top of the existing 15% tariff on HRC would increase the cost to domestic consumers of many products including electronics, white goods and automotive, which would ultimately result in the escalation of inflation,” it said.
Additionally, the interested parties also pointed out that if Megasteel’s petition was allowed, it was inevitable that the company would increase its already higher than average world HRC price.
“Industries which rely on HRC as raw material for production risk to be driven out of business as it would be cheaper to import finished goods instead,” it said.
A public hearing was held on Nov 4, 2015 at Miti’s office where interested parties and stakeholders including Misif had in unison voiced their unequivocal and firm opposition to any proposed safeguard measures requested by Megasteel.
Miti is expected to release the preliminary determination report on Jan 8, 2016. - Bernama
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