JAGARAN CHAKMA

The price of steel products is unlikely to decline in the coming days from its current record level as the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has not offered any benefit to the sector, said a top executive.

“I don’t see any possibility of steel prices going down as the cost of production has shot up,” said Shahriar Jahan Rahat, deputy managing director of KSRM, a Chattogram-based steel miller.

“The cost of import has gone up as the US dollar has strengthened by about 30 per cent against the taka, while the energy and power shortage has driven up the production cost as well.”

Rahat made the comments during an interview with The Daily Star as he shared his thoughts about the proposed budget for 2023-24.

According to him, energy bills account for around 15 per cent of the steel production cost.

The global energy crisis driven by the Russia-Ukraine war has caused a similar energy crunch in Bangladesh as the country has been compelled to stop the purchase of liquefied natural gas from the international spot markets amid the fast decline of the foreign currency reserves.

“We are facing a dollar crisis and it is hampering our business,” Rahat said.

He thinks that the energy crisis will continue in the coming days and the price of the dollar might increase further. “So, there is a possibility that the price of steel products will rise in the future.”