The decision of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) to add 14 items, including plastic moulding compound (PMC) materials which also includes plastic materials in the list of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT), will have a devastating impact on the local industry.
This was observed by the Chairman, Pakistan Polypropylene Woven Sack Manufacturers Association (PPWSMA), Sardar Muhammad Ashraf Khan, said in a press statement here on Friday.
Sardar Ashraf said that the ECC decision, without taking the plastic and polypropylene industry into confidence and without considering all aspects of the issue, would be disastrous for local industry.
In a letter to Commerce Minister Humayun Akhter Khan, the PPWSMA Chairman drawn the attention of the minister to the fact that the polypropylene woven sacks industry, with an investment of Rs 12 billion, was employing over 20,000 people directly, besides consuming approximately 150,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene raw material and polypropylene materials.
He said the bags were major source of revenue for the exchequer, which amounted to approximately Rs 3.5 to four billion rupees per annum.
Sardar Ashraf pointed out that Afghanistan in the present circumstances could not consume any plastic materials due to the non-existence of infrastructure and any industry in the war-torn country.
As such the question of consumption of these materials in Afghanistan was not possible at this point of time, he added.
All these materials imported in the name of Afghanistan through the ATT, he said, would find its way into Pakistani market, encouraging large-scale smuggling.
The PPWSMA Chairman said Pakistan did have the most sophisticated and modern technology in the field of polypropylene industry and had 100 percent surplus capacity of meeting the entire requirement of packaging material of Afghanistan plus.