The boycott of purchasing steel products by the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) has brought positive results as steel manufacturers have brought down the price of steel to Rs271,000 from Rs345,000 per tonne.
ABAD has also demanded of the government to abolish regulatory duty (RD) and additional regulatory duty (ARD) to support the construction industry and the economy of Pakistan.
ABAD Patron-In-Chief Mohsin Sheikhani, Chairman Altaf Tai, Senior Vice Chairman Khawar Munir, Vice Chairman Nadeem Jeewa, and Chairman Southern Region Raheel Rinch made the demands at the ABAD House on Wednesday.
They said that despite the low prices of raw materials in the international market, steel manufacturers were increasing prices via cartelisation. This exponential and unfair increase in prices led ABAD to boycott purchasing steel, which they said brought about a positive change in the attitudes of the steel makers.
Officials of ABAD said that they had to stick to the boycott for 20 days, which made the steelmakers see some sense and bow down before the demand to reduce the price of the essential construction input by Rs74,000 per tonne.
The price of steel in the international market is Rs250,000 per tonne, whereas the manufacturing cost was Rs230,000 and as such the price of steel should not be more than Rs250,000 per tonne, they added.
