The cement manufacturers of the country have drawn the attention of Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) towards the illegal import of cement from Iran which is affecting the local industry and revenues to the government. Senior Vice Chairman of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), Sayeed Tariq Saigol has written a letter to Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa to mention this issue.
"Your kind attention is drawn towards a serious irregularity being committed by some importers who are importing Iranian cement under the brand names of Sistan, Khash, Mumtazan, Kirman, Ghain and selling it in the local market at much lower rates than the Pakistani brands by means of tax evasion," Sayeed Saigol mentioned this in his letter.
He added that it is observed that the importers of Iranian cement are paying duties/taxes to the extent of 30 tons against the consignment of 60 tons, thus evading the duties/taxes by 50 percent. "This tax evasion is not only affecting the domestic market but also affecting the much needed government revenue," he said. Meanwhile, industry sources termed this situation grave for the sector that is already facing issues like loadshedding, shortage of labour, slowdown of construction activities, and low exports.
"The import of cement from Iran is detrimental to the sector. This has been proved by the plight of many other sectors, especially tiles industry," said a source.
The source added that local industries of tyres and tiles have already been facing ample challenges due to the smuggling. "The tyre industry is heavily affected by the smuggling of tyres from Afghanistan while local tiles industry has already vanished due to heavy influx of Iranian tiles in the local market. Now it seems the cement industry will be the next prey of this smuggling menace," source added.
The source said it is feared that the local cement industry, which is contributing Rs 2,000 per ton to national exchequer in the shape of indirect taxes, would face severe issues if the threat of this illegal import of Iranian cement is not countered effectively by the government or relevant authorities. "The local cement industry has been made to bear the burden of increase in the excise duty, high rates of electricity, continuous surge in the input costs, recent imposition of customs duty on coal import, and restrictions on trucks to load cement and coal according to the approved axle weight," source added. This new threat of smuggling along with the above mentioned issues would completely destroy the cement sector of the country in the near future; hence it is the responsibility of the government to save its local industries from such threats and curb smuggling, source revealed.