Galvalume coil, as imported
Hot-dip aluminium-zinc coated steel. AZ165, 0.39 to 0.77 mm, 1219 mm wide. Classified as coil, taxed as coil (Customs Classification Committee, April 2026).
Full-width galvanized coil enters Belize at 15%. The same coil, slit abroad, enters at 5%. A request to review subheading 7210.49.10 so that slitting in Belize is no longer penalized.
Koop Sheet Metal is a Belizean manufacturer with 96 employees. We import coated flat-rolled steel in coil and process it locally into roofing profiles, decking, purlins, hat channel and other building components.
7210.49.10 from
15% to 5%.Full-width galvanized coil (600 mm and wider) is the rawest form of this steel we can buy. Today it pays 15%, while the same steel already slit to under 600 mm (7212.30.20) pays 5%, and every other coated coil pays 5% at any width.
We invested in slitting and forming capacity in Belize. The tariff, as written, charges us more for doing that work here. The next screens show it on our own floor.
| Coating | Full-width coil 600 mm and wider · heading 72.10 |
Slit coil under 600 mm · heading 72.12 |
Corrugated sheet finished · heading 72.10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tin | 5%7210.12.00 | 5%7212.10.00 | n/a |
| Lead (terne) | 5%7210.20.00 | 5%7212.50.20 | n/a |
| Zinc, electrolytic | 5%7210.30.20 | 5%7212.20.20 | 15%7210.30.10 |
| Zinc, hot-dip galvanized | 15%7210.49.10 | 5%7212.30.20 | 15%7210.41.10 |
| Aluminium-zinc (Galvalume) | 5%7210.61.20 | 5%7212.50.20 | 15%7210.61.10 |
| Painted / plastic coated | 5%7210.70.20 | 5%7212.40.20 | 15%7210.70.10 |
| Other coatings | 5%7210.90.20 | 5%7212.50.20 | 15%7210.90.10 |
Reading left to right is reading the production chain: full-width coil → slit coil → finished sheet. For every coating the finished product is protected at 15% and coil enters at 5%. For hot-dip galvanized, the full-width coil starts at 15%, then falls to 5% once slit. The duty runs backwards.
Hot-dip aluminium-zinc coated steel. AZ165, 0.39 to 0.77 mm, 1219 mm wide. Classified as coil, taxed as coil (Customs Classification Committee, April 2026).
This is the tariff working as intended: raw coil at 5%, finished sheet at 15%. It rewards forming the product in Belize.
Galvanized or Galvalume base with a factory paint system, in the colours the Belizean market asks for.
Confirmed by the Customs Classification Committee, April 2026.
The coil is profiled into roofing sheet on our line. Belizean labour, Belizean value added.
Cut to length and stacked for a Belizean roof.
Same logic, same result. Coil 5%, finished sheet 15%.
Zinc coated steel, Z120 to Z275, 0.47 to 1.90 mm, 1220 mm wide. The rawest form we can buy, and three times the duty of any other coated coil.
Before purlins, channel and decking can be formed, the 1220 mm coil is slit to width on our own slitter, a line KSM invested roughly BZ$1.6 million to install in Belize. Each strip is tagged and tracked.
One 1220 mm coil becomes several strips under 600 mm, each sized for a specific product.
Same steel, same coating, same end use. The only difference is who did the slitting. Do it abroad: 5%. Do it in Belize: 15% on the way in.
Slit strip is roll-formed into purlins, hat channel and decking.
This is the value added a CET is designed to encourage. On galvanized coil, the tariff charges a premium for bringing that work to Belize.
7210.49.10 · 600 mm and wider · the raw input
7212.30.20 · under 600 mm · one process further along
Every other coil we import pays 5% wide and 5% slit. Only galvanized steel is cheaper to import after someone else has processed it. That is a penalty on slitting in Belize, and galvanized coil is exactly what our structural lines run on.
| Coating | Full-width coil 600 mm and wider · heading 72.10 |
Slit coil under 600 mm · heading 72.12 |
Corrugated sheet finished · heading 72.10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tin | 5%7210.12.00 | 5%7212.10.00 | n/a |
| Lead (terne) | 5%7210.20.00 | 5%7212.50.20 | n/a |
| Zinc, electrolytic | 5%7210.30.20 | 5%7212.20.20 | 15%7210.30.10 |
| Zinc, hot-dip galvanized | 15%7210.49.10 | 5%7212.30.20 | 15%7210.41.10 |
| Aluminium-zinc (Galvalume) | 5%7210.61.20 | 5%7212.50.20 | 15%7210.61.10 |
| Painted / plastic coated | 5%7210.70.20 | 5%7212.40.20 | 15%7210.70.10 |
| Other coatings | 5%7210.90.20 | 5%7212.50.20 | 15%7210.90.10 |
Reading left to right is reading the production chain: full-width coil → slit coil → finished sheet. For every coating the finished product is protected at 15% and coil enters at 5%. For hot-dip galvanized, the full-width coil starts at 15%, then falls to 5% once slit. The duty runs backwards.
Source: Customs Tariff of Belize, Chapter 72, MFN column. All lines shown are for thickness under 3 mm and, for the coil columns, "other" (not corrugated); this covers every coil KSM imports (0.39 to 1.90 mm).Highlighted products are formed from hot-dip galvanized coil, the 15% input. Everything else starts from coil at 5%. The two corrugated sheets are the same profile, the same gauge and the same machine; only the coating differs.
In April 2026 the Customs & Excise Classification Committee reviewed SAD C237 and reclassified our hot-dip galvanized coil from 7210.30.20 to 7210.49.10. We do not dispute that finding. The question before DGFT is not what the coil is. It is why the full-width line carries 15% when the slit line, and every other coating, carries 5%.
No producer in Belize, and to our knowledge none in CARICOM, manufactures or slits hot-dip galvanized coil. The 15% does not shield a regional industry. It makes it cheaper to have the slitting done abroad than to do it here, and it raises the price of purlins, channel and decking for Belizean builders.
We have not identified any CARICOM member state with domestic production of hot-dip galvanized flat-rolled steel that the 15% on 7210.49.10 would protect. If that holds, a reduction to 5% carries no regional cost and benefits every member that processes coil.
We recognise this is DGFT's field. We are asking for guidance on the appropriate route (national suspension under the CET provisions, or an amendment through COTED) and will supply whatever supporting data the technical team requires.
The Ministry of Finance has already recognised the issue with a partial exemption. Customs has pointed us to DGFT for the permanent remedy. We are grateful for both and are here to complete the process.
7210.49.10 to 5%, the rate its slit equivalent already pays.Which route applies, national CET suspension or a COTED amendment, and what the timeline looks like.
What data and format the technical team needs from KSM to support the submission.
An open invitation to tour the production floor in Spanish Lookout and see the process first-hand.