The increase in import duty on Pakistani kino from 5 percent to 25 percent by Indonesia, casting dark shadows on local kino sector, could not be resolved so far as Pakistani embassy officials in Jakarta have remained unable to approach the Indonesian Trade Ministry authorities. The Pakistani Ambassador in Jakarta is expected to meet with Director General Tariff Indonesia to deliberate on duty increase issue. However, there seem very rare chances of resolution of this issue immediately.
The duty increase is incurring huge losses to kino exporters as well as growers due to halting of import orders from Indonesian market since February 1.
The kino exporters to this Southeast Asian country are facing hard time as import of mandarins from China on zero duty has left very narrow margin for Pakistani kino to compete in this large market, which consumes around 40 percent of total kino export from Pakistan.
In this regard, the exporters sought immediate intervention of Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar and have written three letters in the last two weeks to help the exporters, but a response from the top level of the government is still awaited.
A leading kino exporter and Pakistan Citrus Fruit Association Chairman Rana Sadiq terms overall situation "very dire" for kino exports and regrets that a few efforts, that too lacking seriousness, have been made by the government to put an end to this situation.
He said that not a single kino export shipment has been made to Indonesia since the levying of new duty of 25 percent according to customs record under the new orders and if a few were sent, that were forwarded under the previous orders, received before this duty increase.
Rana said that actually the duty was increased on mandarin-type of citrus fruit but Pakistani kino was also included in this category. It should be convened to Indonesian authorities that kino is a different form of citrus fruit from mandarin and should be categorised separately.
He suggested that if duty increase is inevitable, then it should be at least levied from April 30 at the end of this kino season for the benefit of Pakistani exporters.
He said it would not carry any harm for Indonesia as trade balance between Indonesia and Pakistani already tilts in favour of farmers.
Another exporter of citrus fruit Abdul Mateen Siddiqui deplored that the government is only focusing on textile sector and taking all possible initiatives for the resolution of problems pertaining to it, while no special attention is paid to other sectors, particularly agriculture and horticulture products, despite the demand of these products world-wide.
This could be gauged from the fact, he said, that Pakistan had exported 1900 40-feet refer containers carrying kino till January 31 against the 1700, 40-feet refer containers, exported during the same period of the last year.
He cautioned that if vigorous efforts were not undertaken to resolve duty increase issue, precious foreign exchange would be lost by cancellation of import orders of kino from Indonesia, which remained the biggest market for Pakistani kino over the years.
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