Accra, July 23, GNA - The Tema Steel Works Company on Wednesday appealed to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Presidential Initiative to establish a Legislative Instrument that would ban the export of scrap metal.

Mr Anthony Arden Boachie, Senior Commercial Manager of the Company, who made the appeal when the Minister of State in- charge of Industries, Ishmael Ashitey paid a working visit to the company, said the company has in recent times been importing scrap from neighbouring countries. He said if it was government's desire that industries should use 70 per cent of raw materials from local sources, then government had to intervene on their behalf to enable them to purchase their raw materials locally.

"We are not the only company facing the problem but others such as Intrisic, the former Wahome and Ferro Fabrik all of Tema are also facing this problem," he said

According to Mr Boachie, Tema Steel Works used to export steel billets to neighbouring counties for which it had received several awards. Since 2001, however, the company had had to import its raw materials hence its inability to work to full capacity.

"At the moment, we are only doing between 60 to 70 per cent capacity and if care is not taken we would have to lay off some of our workers since we can no longer compete both locally and internationally due to the unfavourable terms of trade," he said.

Mr Boachie said another factor that hampered production leading to low returns was the frequent unannounced disruption in electricity supply.

"There were times when a whole day's work would have to be done all over again because the lights went off at the last stage of production." He urged the government to institute peak period and off period charges for companies that depended on electricity supply for their production. "By so doing we believe more investment can be attracted into the country."

Mr Ashietey said the steel industry was a big industry in Ghana with prospects of expansion as population grows. He therefore pledged government's support in ensuring that all disputes regarding raw material supply and ready markets were resolved. The Minister had earlier in the day visited GHACEM where he interacted with the staff and toured the plant.