The Indian Metallurgical Coke Manufacturers Association (IMCOM), which represents a majority of merchant manufacturers of metallurgical coke in the country, has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting for review of taxes & duties on coking coal and Met Coke. The association urged Finance Ministry to reimpose 5% import duty on Metallurgical coke to help domestic Met coke producers to sustain.Citing the Union government’s decision to reduce import duty on coking coal from 2.5% to nil and on metallurgical coke (met coke) from 5% to nil in May this year, IMCOM claimed that the move has had a severe and adverse impact on the operations of the Indian met coke industry. “That’s because the decline in applicable duty on imports of metallurgical coke is significantly greater than the decline in applicable duty on imports of coking coal. In other words, while there is only a 2.5% reduction in import duty on coking coal costs, there is a 5% reduction in import duty on metallurgical coke,” the Association wrote in its letter. The Association said that the Indian met coke industry is a significant contributor to employment generation and that IMCOM members directly and indirectly employ close to 100,000 people.

Source: Daily Nation October 04, 2022 06:20 UTC