The wire and cable industry is rapidly moving towards extinction and has been facing a lot of hardships in procuring raw materials due to high prices of raw materials in the market.
Since the inception of Pakistan, there has been a tremendous amount of investment by the private sector in the area of wires and cables and now, in the present scenario, there are eight major cables and five major enamelled wire manufacturers in the country and the industry is doing business of approximately Rs 10 to 13 billion per annum.
Not only that, the industry is providing jobs to all the strata of the society and is also a major source of inspiration for future generations whose interests lie in the area of electric and electronics engineering.
Unfortunately, this industry, although doing a lot of service to the country, happens to be the most neglected one among other industries. This was sated in a report of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
The report said that there is a wide scope of export of aluminum rods to Sri Lanka as that country's annual requirement is around 5,000 tonnes. There is a good opportunity for Pakistan, as it has signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka and, being a member of Saarc country, on any material import from any Saarc country, duty will be one percent less than normal rate of duty.
The only hurdle in this regard is the custom duty in Pakistan on the import of aluminum ingots, from which aluminum rod is prepared, is 5 percent. With all taxes, the total cost comes to $388 per tonne. However, if the duty is deducted, then premium for aluminum rod will be $260. The KCCI has suggested that wire and cable manufacturing industry should be allowed to import aluminum ingots/copper cathodes for export purpose on zero duty.
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