Saudi Arabia has re imposed 5% customs duty on steel rebars and cement imports except those coming from GCC countries after a temporary exemption that lasted for two years. This decision was circulated to all Saudi border ports for implementation as of the beginning of 2010.
Saudi Arabia had prior to that approved a cut in customs duties on steel since April 2004 from 20% to 5%. GCC had also approved to duty exemptions on steel and cement imports two years ago, hence becoming totally duty free imports, in order to tackle the crisis of tight supply that prevailed in the market then, restraining the upward trend of building materials prices that reached record levels.
