Displaying items by tag: Tax
Gypsum ‘mafia’ bury export price of gypsum in Azerbaijan
09 April 2015Azerbaijan: Gypsum exporters in Azerbaijan deliberately reduced export prices of gypsum by a factor of 10 in 2014 to evade tax, according to research by the Turan Information Agency conducted on data from Azerbaijan and Georgia state sources.
According to the research, the export and import values for gypsum failed to match between Azerbaijan and Georgia in 2014, leading to a US$24.1m tax shortfall. Gypsum exported from Azerbaijan was valued at US$17/t but gypsum imported into Georgia was valued at US$170/t. Almost all export of gypsum of Azerbaijan appeared to go to Georgia according to data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia. Turan dubbed gypsum producers in Azerbaijan as the 'Gypsum Mafia'.
The main producers of plaster in Azerbaijan are Garant Holding and Gilan Holding. Both companies are located close to gypsum deposits in the Goranboy region. Gilan Holding has a joint venture with the German company Knauf for the production of wallboard.
New Zealand to review building materials import duties
07 November 2013New Zealand: The New Zealand government is considering cutting import duties on home building materials to help reduce rising house prices in the country.
"Building material costs are too high and can be as much as 30% more in New Zealand than in Australia according to the Productivity Commission. The industry needs a shake-up through increased competition and greater transparency to ensure kiwi families can get access to more fairly priced building materials and homes," said Housing Minister Nick Smith in a statement.
Smith and Commerce Minister Craig Foss released an options paper outlining possible measures to curb the cost of house construction. The paper said that 19% of the output of the home construction industry was made up of imported content. Tariffs notionally still applied to most items used in housing construction, such as wallboard, insulation, timber products, steel and aluminum joinery, particle board and roofing materials, but adjusted tariffs - the duty as a percentage of the value - were small and diminishing due to free trade agreements. Submissions to the options paper close on 18 December 2013.
New Zealand has imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of plasterboard from Thailand since 2011, wire nails from China since 2011 and reinforcing steel bar and coil from Thailand since 2004.
India imposes wallboard duty on selected imports
18 April 2013India: The Finance Ministry has imposed an anti-dumping duty on wallboard imported from China, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE. The import tax has been declared valid for five years starting from 7 June 2012 when the provisional anti-dumping duty was first imposed. The duty excludes fire-resistant boards.
For wallboard imports from China, the duty is US$32.9/m3. For imports from Indonesia the duty is US$24.1/m3. For imports from Thailand, wallboard produced and exported by Siam Gypsum Industry (Saraburi) and Siam Gypsum Industry (Songkhla) has received a preferential rate of US$54.5/m3. All other wallboard imports from Thailand will receive a duty of US$73.8/m3. For imports from UAE produced and exported by Gypsemna Dubai the duty is US$12.3/m3. All other imports from UAE will receive a duty of US$20.2/m3.