Steel industry needs to be strengthened for sustainable economic growth, a prerequisite for rapid development, progress and prosperity in the country. This was stated by Coordinator to Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Meher Kashif Younis while talking to a delegation of industrialists led by Ahmad Waqar here on Thursday. Meher said that the iron and steel industry was the bottomline producer industry and the mother of all industries as it caters to other industries, thus contributing towards industrial and national development. He said that worldwide, the steel industry was considered one of the vital aspects of stable growth and economic development. “Our industrial policy needs to be revisited to prioritize steel production over sugar, cola and cigarettes production,” he remarked. There was definitely a dire need for promoting the steel sector as the demand for steel was higher than its production and the demand and supply gap was met through imports. “Even if the reverse were the case, we would have exported steel given its high demand world over,” he highlighted. The FTO Coordinator said steel was also recyclable and, therefore, unlikely to run out like fossil fuels. “About 88 per cent of steel is recycled throughout the world and unlike other recycled materials, steel never loses its strength during recycling.” “This is the reason that ship-breaking which is a part of the steel sector, is so important,” he said, citing that about 15 per cent of the domestic production of steel came from ship-breaking scrap. Highlighting the significance of steel sector in national development, Meher said iron and steel sector was part of the large scale manufacturing (LSM); not only it had linkage with other industrial sub-sectors, but also with the agriculture and services sectors – which used implements made of iron and steel. “It is impossible to think of any sector, which doesn’t benefit from steel sector. The per capita use of steel in Pakistan is only 35 kg as compared to the last year world average of 233 kg which is one of the key points the policymakers should consider, in order to tailor such a master plan to strengthen the industrial base rather than only focusing on traditional sectors,” he emphasized.
