KARACHI: Pakistan Customs has linked the import value of iron and steel scrap with the prices published in London Metal Bulletin (LMB) in order to ensure smooth customs clearance, sources said on Thursday.
The sources said that the Directorate of Customs Valuation last week issued valuation ruling for iron and steel scrap after considering fluctuation in prices in the international markets and on a solution recommended by stakeholders regarding adoption of LMB prices.
The sources said that the directorate previously amended the values of iron and steel scrap through a valuation ruling issued on July 02, 2020.
However, the directorate had received recommendations from stakeholders that the values fixed for the imported goods were causing problems to importers at the clearance stage because the international market varied with demand and supply factor.
The stakeholders also recommended that prices of scrap were also published in LMB for Pakistan imports. Therefore, to ensure transparency, fairness as well as uniformity in assessment, the value should be linked with LMB prices and freight factor should be added when published prices given as FOB (freight on board).
During the meetings to review the valuation of iron and steel scrap, the stakeholders provided copies of the LMB prices and contracts values imported to Pakistan.
Considering the facts, the directorate allowed the customs clearance of iron and steel scrap at the import value published by the LMB.
However, for compressor scrap the directorate fixed $660 per metric ton as customs value for determination of duty and taxes at the time of clearance.
The importers of compressor scraps informed the directorates that 90 percent of the scrap was imported from the USA where chances of under-invoicing were minimal. They demanded that either the scrap should be excluded from ruling or its value should be reduced from current value as per the invoices of recent import values provided by them.
