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All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has requested the Ministry of Finance to impose regulatory duty on Iranian cement to save the local industry. In a letter to the Secretary Finance Waqar Masood Khan, Chairman APCMA Mohammad Ali Tabba said that cement imports from Iran have touched alarming levels. "Over the last year larger and larger quantities are arriving daily and now the quantities are at an alarmingly high level reaching about 2,000 tons per day," stated the letter which was also shared with media on Thursday.
Chairman APCMA added that despite statutory Customs duty of 20 percent, the Iranian cement is selling at the price levels of 40 percent below the retail price of domestically produced cement in the Balochistan market due to connivance of custom officials. "As a result the local market in the areas adjacent to the Iranian border and the coastal area of Balochistan are flooded with Iranian cement," he added. It is to be noted that Iranian cement being smuggled through the Iran-Pakistan border via land routes and through railway.
Consequently, he added, domestically produced cement is fast losing market as it is unable to compete with this Iranian cement because of the evasion of duties and taxes. Secondly, they are also not complaint with PSQCA. The authority must not allow import of cement from Iran unless it is fully compliant with duties and taxes and certification from PSQCA. "Pakistan's cement industry is making huge investments in increasing production to gear up for upcoming China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects," said Chairman APCMA, adding that cement is our important export item as well, earning precious foreign exchange of over US 0.5 billion dollars annually over the last decade. He added that this surge in Iranian cement imports is a big threat and would serious affect the domestic industry, while it would also jeopardize the investment in the industry.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2015

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