Raising customs duties on imports of reinforcing steel and iron rolls to 10%

Media In – Abu Dhabi – 29 January 2019
Customs authorities in the UAE began early January to implement the decision of the Council of Ministers to increase the customs duty on imports of reinforcing steel and iron rolls from 5% to 10% in order to provide trade protection for national iron products and anti-dumping practiced by some international companies producing imported iron in local markets.
The customs commissioner, head of the Federal Customs Authority, said in a press statement that the lifting of customs duties on rebar and iron rolls comes in the context of a Gulf initiative to be applied at the level of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, not just the UAE, to protect the iron industry. National and anti-dumping at the GCC level.
He added that the lifting of tariffs comes in implementation of the decision of the Committee on Financial and Economic Cooperation of the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council to approve the lifting of tariffs on imports of reinforcing steel and iron rolls from 5% to 10% on January 1, 2019, as well as the agreement of the Harmonized System Committee for classification and classification of goods in GCC countries Cooperation in its forty-fourth meeting in this regard, and then the customs ports in the State to take the necessary customs procedures to implement the decision at the level of the state, not at the level of the emirate without the other, early January this month.
He stressed that the decision will be implemented for one year on the results to be evaluated by the Ministry of Economy, and the result of the evaluation to the Council of Ministers to take the appropriate decision in this regard.
He pointed out that the use of customs duties as a tool for the protection of national products is a global trade principle adopted by the international trade and customs agreements issued by the World Trade Organization and the World Customs Organization, and all countries have the right to apply them in the event of proven dumping by imported products regardless of their origin.

On the other hand, the statistical data of the Authority showed that the value of the UAE’s trade in reinforcing steel and iron rolls amounted to AED 1.1 billion (444.4 thousand tons) during the first nine months of 2018. While the value of the country’s imports amounted to 656 million dirhams (268 thousand tons) The country’s exports amounted to AED 392 million (168.4 thousand tons) and the re-export value was AED 26 million (8,000 tons).