The negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China have perturbed local industry according to which the government has failed to protect, even after acknowledging the dumping of goods from China. In context of recent assurance by Commerce Division that the local industry will be protected under FTA, industrialists requesting anonymity said that it may be highly unlikely as National Tariff Commission (NTC) has so far failed to do so, said industries sources.
The tiles industry has provided proof of dumping of Chinese products into Pakistani markets and NTC though imposed anti dumping duty on import of tiles from China in October 2017, the industry is yet to get a relief as the importers got a stay order whereas Ministry of Commerce has not even attended the case since then, the sources said.
"Since then, the NTC did not pursue the case and a big loss to the national exchequer as well as to local tiles manufacturers is continued," reasoned an official in the tiles manufacturing industry.
"These three examples clearly show that the importers did not pay a single penny in terms of anti-dumping duty on the imported tiles worth Rs 22 million, which would have been more than 2 million rupees in just these three cases," said the source.
Considering these three examples, he added, one can easily imagine the extent of loss to the national economy just because NTC is not interested in safeguarding the national interest and local tiles industry.
"Almost 12 million square meter tiles are imported in the country every year from China and if we calculate the anti dumping duty it will translate into a significant amount from (Rs 6 billion to Rs 24 billion) at a defined range of (9.35 percent to 36 percent).The NTC must pursue this case in the best interest of the national economy and to stop loss to national industries,".
Sources claimed that importers are also involved in mis-declaration as that value of the tiles imported in one case under GD number KAPE-HC-124178-01-02-2019 was declared at$4.30 instead of $4.90, which resulted in loss to the national exchequer in a single case of Rs 943,542.00 which also doesn't include anti-dumping duty. This mis-declaration is also costing a huge forex annual outflow of around $40 to $50 million to our economy.
"The Ministry which claims to protect the local industry has so far not even established a case against the importers who are inflicting loss on the national exchequer by mis-declaration while also enjoying the interim relief given by LHC to not pay anti dumping duty till the next hearing, as the Ministry has failed to pursue the case," the sources added.
Moreover, the government should also make efforts to curb smuggling which eats up a major chunk of government revenues and local industry share. "The government should support the industries which can help in revival of economy by job creation, tax contribution and boosting exports," sources said adding that this will also attract the much needed investment in the country.
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