Bahrain steelmaker Sulb’s customers in Saudi Arabia, major trading companies, have each received separate notifications from Saudi tax and customs authority ZATCA informing them sections purchases from Sulb are exempt from Saudi Arabia’s rules-of-origin duty.

"The buyers have been notified by e-mail that they don't have to issue a payment guarantee or pay duty on imports until June 2023, which will be revalidated based on the resubmission of required reports. Sulb-Bahrain has gone through external auditory certification for localisation, country of origin of raw material, etc., and submitted the documents through the local ministry in Bahrain to Saudi ZATCA. Now that Sulb-Bahrain has been awarded for compliance, the buyers will not have to make import duty payments, claim for refunds or issue bank guarantees," Sulb chief executive Ravi Singh tells Kallanish.

"We thank the government of Saudi and Bahrain and, specifically, the ZATCA authorities, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and customs authorities for their guidance and support in facilitating this exemption,” Singh says.

Every six months, the exemption is to be extended or terminated subject to the criteria of the Saudi rules-of-origin decree. This will enable buyers to refrain from paying any import duty and waiting for a refund after making claims.

In December, billet imports from Bahrain’s Sulb to its Saudi-based re-roller subsidiary, Saudi Sulb, were exempted from the duty (see Kallanish passim).

Sulb is the largest steel producer in Bahrain, with a captive direct reduced iron plant fed with pellet manufactured by adjacent sister company Bahrain Steel. It produces up to 1.2 million tonnes/year of crude steel and more than 1 mt/y of sections, beams, angles, and channels, together with its subsidiary in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

A 51% stake in Sulb is owned by Foulath Holding, established by the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries through their investment holding company Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC). Yamato Kogyo, a Japanese structural steel producer, has the remaining 49%.