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Levy on exports of iron, steel scrap imposed

The decision number 262 of 2004 which will come into effect from Wednesday, aimed at discouraging the export of iron scrap so that it is available for the iron and steel industry to manufacture different products which are in huge demands these days due to the mega construction projects being announced almost daily in the country.

The decision to impose the levy as a deterrent has been taken following the suggestions put forward by the local iron and steel industry, which was facing serious shortage of the raw material for a long time. It has also been one of the factor in the recent escalation of prices of steel products.

In the UAE, a total of seven iron and steel factories are engaged in the manufacturing of various steel products like iron bars which are consumed by local construction industry. Out of these factories three are located in Jebel Ali, two in Sharjah and one huge factory is based in the industrial estate of Musaffah in Abu Dhabi. Speaking to Khaleej Times Mehr Mohammad Arif, leading scrap exporter based in Sharjah said that rumours were rife for the last two months.

He said that over 1,000 scrap traders have over the years developed Sharjah into a major trading centre for the different kinds of scrap with different sources of supply. The iron and steel scrap collected from the projects and demolished buildings have huge demand in India, Pakistan, Iran and some other countries.

Mehr Mohammed Arif estimated that at least 350,000 -400,000 metric ton of scrap is exported from the UAE annually fetching Dh2.5-3 billion export proceeds.

Besides, scrap collected from the country, huge quantities are imported from Central Asian states, Australia which are also re-exported to subcontinent where the wide gap in the supply and demand of iron is met through imported scrap.