KARACHI: All Pakistan Paper Merchants Association (APPMA) has requested the Federal Minister of Finance & Revenue Shaukat Tarin and Advisor for Commerce & Investment Razzak Dawood to reduce custom duty on paper and paperboard.

All Pakistan Paper Merchants Association senior vice chairman Muhammad Anis said printing and packaging industry has suffered due to the existence of highest customs duty, additional custom duty, anti dumping duty and anomalous tariffs which make local printing & packaging to extremely dwindle.

He urged the federal finance minister, and advisor for commerce & investment, Ministry of Commerce to reduce customs duty on paper produce in Pakistan to 10 percent and paper not produce in Pakistan should have 5 percent.

Paper (raw material) HS code 4802 and 4810 continuously to be charged at 20 percent customs duty, 7 percent additional customs duty, as well 11 percent to 40 percent Anti-Dumping Duty; however duty on printed material (finished goods) is almost duty free.

APPMA and its affiliated association Pakistan Association of Printing & Graphic Industry (PAPGAI) have strongly raised all these issues before the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, National Tariff Commission (NTC) and Federal Board of Revenue, for the past 15 years, but the government has turned a blind eye to the misery of the printing & packaging industry and has expressly safeguarding of anomalous tariffs.

Due to the unlimited continuation of abnormal tariffs, printed materials (books, catalogues, packing materials, literary materials etc.) are imported at 3 percent customs duty; whereas, the paper and paperboard (H.S code 4802 & 4810) imported by the printing and packaging industry is charged with the 27 percent customs duty as well Anti Dumping duty.

The continuation of an unbalanced tariff and the fact that other regional countries have managed to establish equally well-organized printing units has led to increasing imports of books, including Urdu books prescribed in Pakistan's schools and colleges, from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and China, which were once printed locally.

International Printing industries derive benefits of $ 900 billion markets, largely consume by Singapore, Malaysia, China and UAE, despite of fact that our printing industry is far cheaper but heavy customs duty, additional customs duty and anomalous taxes are the major factors to confine us to enter the $900 billion export market.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021