Export of steel debris banned for six months

by Surekha Galagoda

The government last week banned the export of steel debris for six months to give a boost to the casting industry which was forced to close down due to lack of raw materials.

The cabinet took this decision based on a paper presented by Minister of Industrial Development Kumar Welgama.

The industrialists thanked the minister for the quick action taken by him. The minister presented the paper after a discussion he had with the President of the Sri Lanka Foundry Owners' Association Melwin Samarasinghe, Advisor of the Cast Industrialists Society Ven. Sansungama Gnanarathana Thera and 15 representatives.

The industrialists said that if a solution was not found immediately about three lakhs of people will lose their jobs due to the industry putting up shutters. The main reason for the shortage of raw materials is the export of steel debris including copper, iron and aluminium on a large scale from Sri Lanka.

They said that although the government recently increased the export tax for steel including copper it has not brought the desired results as some people use various illegal means to export steel debris.

Therefore they called upon the minister to temporarily ban the export of steel debris which will help the industry and the dependents earn a living. It will also save the much needed foreign currency being drained out in the form of imports while industrialists can add value to the products without merely exporting them as debris.

This will earn the country more revenue and give a boost to the local casting industry. A spokesman for the casters said that it costs Rs. 500 to manufacture a kilo of brass hinges locally while the imported cost would be Rs 800.

The industrialists said that although there is a program to distribute copper and iron debris discarded by state institutions including the Ceylon Electricity Board among industrialists under the supervision of the Industrial Development Board the raw material received in this manner is barely sufficient for the daily production activities.

During the meeting with the representatives the minister assured them that he would find a solution quickly without harming the policies and agreements of the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement.