The Hindu Business Line : Govt adds two more ports for unshredded metallic scrap imports

UNSHREDDED metallic scrap can now be imported through 17 ports. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has added Inland Container Depot (ICD) Ludhiana and ICD Dadri, Greater Noida to the list of 15 eligible ports through which metallic scrap in unshredded and loose form can be imported.

As much as 92 per cent of the metallic scrap imported are in unshredded form. The Government has also now done away with the requirement of specifying the "country of origin of the metallic scrap and waste" in the pre-shipment certificate that has to be furnished to the Customs at the time of clearance of goods.

Informed sources said the main objective behind adding ICD Ludhiana and ICD Dadri to the list of eligible ports is to take care of the congestion situation at JNPT.

"Earlier, when the ICDs at Ludhiana and Dadri were not included, all scrap imports intended for these two places had to be first Customs cleared at JNPT and then sent to their respective destinations. With the inclusion of these two ICDs, metallic scrap can be directly imported and there is no need for routing them through JNPT," sources said.

The 15 specified ports already permitted are Chennai, Kochi , Ennore, JNPT, Kandla, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin, Vishakapatnam, ICD Tughlakabad, Pipava, Mundra and Kolkata.