A flawed policy

This refers to the article ‘Privatizing Pakistan Steel’ (Dec 10) by Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri. The writer has rightly diagnosed that “a major factor behind the failure of the PSM was a flawed tariff policy on steel raw material and steel products”. He correctly added that “this policy turned raw material for the mills expensive, and import substitution of the products produced by Pakistan Steel cheaper”. According to the writer, “the revival of the PSM would require a pro-steel mills tariff policy”.

The annual consumption of steel in the country is around 7 million tonnes at a price of more than Rs100,000 per tonne. Even one percent increase in the price of steel as a result of the pro-steel mill tariff will cause a loss of billions to the economy. In this regard, the use of pro-steel mill tariff to revive Pakistan Steel will be unwise.

Abdul Majeed

Islamabad