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Category: Trade & Industry

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  • Engro Polymer stops production activities on SEPA notice

    Engro Polymer stops production activities on SEPA notice

    KARACHI: The production activities have been stopped at plant of Engro Polymer and Chemicals located at Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, said a statement on Monday.

    The production activities have been stopped after Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) took notice of gas leakage incident at the plant.

    The company in a notification informed the stock market: “In relation to isolated incident reported to Pakistan Stock Exchange on March 06, 2020, Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited (ECPL) has received a notice under Section 21(2) of Sindh Environment Protection Act, 2014 from the Enviornmental Protection Agency Government of Sindh. The notice has directed EPCL to stop all production activities at the plant and fixed a hearing on March 10. In compliance with the notice, all production activities are on hold at the plant.”

    Earlier on Friday March 6, 2020 the incident was reported at Engro Polymer and Chemcial.
    In a statement the company said that it was gathering complete details related to the incident.

    “Based on initial reports, some people have been shifted to a nearby medical facility for treatment of vomiting/nausea condition,” it said.

    The company’s staff is accompanying these people to ensure that they receive adequate medical treatment, it said. “No injuries or fatalities have been reported,” the company added.

    It further said that specific areas of the plant have been taken offline as a precautionary measure, and the company will conduct a complete and thorough investigation into the incident and will keep the stock exchange informed with any material developments in the matter.

  • Dealers demand reviewing policy for used cars import

    Dealers demand reviewing policy for used cars import

    KARACHI: Car dealers have said that due to restrictions on import of used vehicles the business of car sales has suffered terribly and many showroom owners have shut down their businesses.

    Chairman of Automotive Traders & Importers Association Karachi (ATIAK) Muhammad Kamran Khan and President ATIAK Ch. Aamir Ali Khan have requested the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) to support the car dealers.

    They said that due to severe curbs imposed on the imports of used cars particularly the amendment in the Import Policy Order 2016 in which clearance of cars through foreign exchange has been made mandatory, the car sale business has suffered terribly and dozens of car dealers in various localities have shut down their businesses.

    They also sought help of the KCCI in getting their parking issue resolved as not a single vehicle belonging either to showroom owners or walk-in customers was being allowed to get parked outside any showroom which terribly affects their businesses.

    Chairman ATIAK Muhammad Kamran Khan pointed out that the situation has created a lot of problems not only for the car dealers but also for many other allied businesses including the denting and painting workshops and mechanics etc., rendering thousands of people jobless.

    Chairman ATIAK stated that the importers of used cars pay billions of rupees each other in shape of taxes and custom duties but the restrictions on imported cars have brought many businesses on the verge of complete collapse whereas the government was also losing billions of rupees being generated through custom duties and registration of imported vehicles.

    “The entire strategy needs to be reviewed and relief has to be provided hence, KCCI, being the premier trade body, must come forward to help out and save car dealers”, he added.

    Speaking at a meeting during the visit of ATIAK delegation to KCCI, Chairman and President ATIAK said that relocating showrooms outside Karachi was not a feasible option as not a single customer will come all the way out of city beyond Sohrab Goth to buy cars mainly due to security concerns hence, the relevant authorities will have to come up with some other feasible option in which relief has to be ensured for perturbed showroom owners.

    Earlier President KCCI Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, while welcoming the ATIAK delegation, said that under Businessmen Group’s policy of Public Service, the Karachi Chamber has not only been serving the entire business & industrial community without any discrimination but also all other citizens of Karachi who have been facing hardships and climb the Chamber’s stairs to seek assistance.

    He assured the ATIAK delegation members of KCCI’s full support and cooperation so that numerous issues being faced by the car importers and dealers could be resolved as per aspiration of the stakeholders. “We are available for any kind of assistance 24/7 to the entire business and industrial community of Karachi without any discrimination of cast, creed, color or even size of the business”, he added.

    Referring to concerns by ATIAK delegates over parking issue, Agha Shahab Ahmed assured that DIG Traffic will be invited so that the parking issue being faced by car dealers could be particularly discussed and resolved.

    He was of the view that instead of imposing parking restrictions and creating other problems for showroom owners, the authorities should devise some kind of an effective strategy and come up with a permanent solution in consultation with all stakeholders as the car dealers also contribute billions of rupees every year to the national exchequer in shape of taxes and duties hence, they must get an enabling business environment in return.

    Speaking on the occasion, Chairman KCCI’s Special Committee for Small Traders Majeed Memon advised the ATIAK delegates to maintain close liaison with Karachi Chamber, become members of numerous subcommittees and participate in subcommittees’ meetings in order to actively highlight and bring issues to KCCI’s notice so that the same could timely be taken up with relevant authorities and amicably resolved.

  • OICCI recommends price deregulation of petrol, diesel

    OICCI recommends price deregulation of petrol, diesel

    KARACHI: Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has recommended front and back-end price deregulation of petrol and diesel for downstream oil refining and marketing sector.

    For the Upstream oil and gas exploration sector, the OICCI recommended besides the estimated 30 onshore blocks that may be available for bidding, offshore blocks should also be considered and about 5-10 blocks should be offered every 3-6 months, so that there is a steady flow of new acreage to accelerate indigenous E&P activities.

    Moreover, an Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) approach must be adopted and components of the Power Value Chain should be liberalized to bring operational efficiency and reduce energy costs.

    The overseas investors’ chamber made these recommendations in its Energy Report 2019 launched on Wednesday.

    The report is based on the recommendations of the 31 leading international energy sector companies operating in Pakistan, which are members of the chamber.

    Pakistan’s energy sector has witnessed significant transformation over the past five years, with the power generation capacity increasing rapidly to over 39000 MW by mid-2019, with the inclusion of two large RLNG based power plants, Thar coal project and imported coal-based power plants leading to a major shift in the energy mix. Despite the relative fast paced increase in the generation and transmission capacity, over 60 million Pakistanis do not have access to electricity from the grid, which not only impacts the economic growth of the country, but the economic exclusion has a social impact also.

    On top of this, the mounting circular debt, in excess of Rs 1.9 trillion, and the inability of distribution companies to arrest the ever increasing technical and non-technical losses, continue to burden the national exchequer by an additional Rs 40-50 billion annually.

    Presenting the report, CE/Secretary General, OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem commented that “OICCI Energy Report 2019 includes a number of recommendations to streamline the Oil and Gas and Power sectors.

    “The Ministry of Energy is playing a pivotal role in introducing structural reforms to address Pakistan’s prevalent energy issues. However, it is imperative that relevant stakeholders, such as the OICCI, are involved for these to be successful” commented M. Abdul Aleem adding that “OICCI is aware of the government’s plan to offer 18 onshore exploration blocks for bidding, approval for 5 LNG companies to set up regasification terminals at Port Qasim and initiative to develop an Integrated Energy Plan.”

    OICCI Energy Report 2019 is the collective effort of the 31 OICCI members belonging to the energy sector, who are associates of leading international players working in the areas of oil exploration, refining, marketing and distribution, coal mining and power generation segments.

    They cumulatively contribute over Rs 600 Billion annually to the national exchequer and employ a large number of skilled and professional staff.

    Nearly 200 OICCI members contribute about a third of the country’s total tax collections, invested nearly US$ 3.0 billion last year in new investments and employ about one million people with a significantly larger contribution to the socio economic development of the community.

  • Exporters doubt refund payment release on FBR collection failure

    Exporters doubt refund payment release on FBR collection failure

    KARACHI: Exporters expressed concerns that their liquidity may be taken away by the government in shape of sales tax worth billions of rupees as Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has failed to achieve its revenue collection target.

    Mian Anjum Nisar, President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said that the exporters fear that their precious liquidity taken away by the government in shape of sales tax worth billions of rupees which is completely stuck up and refunds may be excessively delayed because the FBR has also failed to achieve its revenue collection target.

    FPCCI chief held a comprehensive detailed meeting with the leading export oriented sector at PHMA House, Karachi with Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, Chairman, Pakistan Apparel Forum and urged the Government to honour its commitment with the export sector.

    The President, FPCCI said that the exporters are in real fixed and under stress as Government is not implementing the decision it has taken to support export oriented sector.

    The Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance promised that the refunds will not get stuck up whereby he and his team have made a commitment that after passing of budget, his team will hold meetings with exporters and devise an automated system like in Bangladesh or China.

    Through the automated system, exporters will get a major amount from bank or the State Bank and would not be dependent on the FBR. Advisor Finance promised that if the new refund system will not work, the govt. will revisit its decision in 3-6 month period. Since more than 8 months have been passed and the FBR FASTER system has failed for speedy refunds, therefore, the Govt. should honour their commitment and restore zero rating – No Payment No Refund Regime for the export sectors.

    President FPCCI further told that the Govt. has failed to refund sales tax claims under FASTER System of textile exporters as per commitment, to refund claim amount in 72 hours, contrarily the Govt. has not paid exporters’ claims for the last seven months.

    Approx. Rs100 billion of textile exporters liquidity held up under FASTER Refund System in last 8 months and total Rs210 billion are withheld with the government.

    Payment timeline for payment of Customs Rebate claims which previously reduced to 7 months has again been prolonged to 13 months.

    However, Government also committed that Customs Rebate, DLTL claims will also be paid electronically along with export proceeds.

    Reportedly, hundreds of exporters SMEs have stopped their production owing to liquidity problems who have not received their sales tax refund claims for last seven months and due to high rates of utilities shall be compelled for closure if their sales tax refunds are not released on immediate basis and utility tariffs are not rationalized to facilitate them to get new orders and resume production.

    The President FPCCI emphasized to implement power tariff of 7.5 cents/kwh including all charges across Pakistan including Karachi and RLNG at 6.5 dollars/MMBTU.

    President also mentioned that while notification of said tariffs was issued the time period inadvertently was missing, it should be for three years period as agreed.

    He further informed that the OGRA has separated zero rated industry from general industry for Gas Tariff while NEPRA is still not implementing the decisions of separate treatment for zero rated and general industry.

    Mian Anjum Nisar President FPCCI said that the tariff for electricity and gas should be fixed on yearly basis for the Export Oriented Sectors and Priority be given only to these sector as the Export Sectors have to make commitments to their buyers for 6 months in advance and frequent increase in the electricity and gas tariffs jeopardizes their entire planning and they suffer huge losses to keep up commitments to their foreign buyers.

  • FPCCI demands immediate release of Rs250 billion tax refunds

    FPCCI demands immediate release of Rs250 billion tax refunds

    KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Tuesday demanded the government to release Rs250 tax refunds of exporters without any further delay.

    FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar urged the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance to honour their commitment of disbursing sales tax refunds within 72 hours of submission of the claims.

    He informed that according to the exporters’ associations of Pakistan the stuck-up refunds claims of sales tax, income tax and duty drawback of five export-oriented industrial sectors – Textile, Leather, Carpet, Sports Goods and Surgical Goods- have reached to the tune of around Rs.250 billion whereas the FBR has also acknowledged the amount as Rs.200 billion.

    However, out of the total amount of Rs.250 billion, sales tax pending refunds are around Rs. 125 billion and the rest amount of over Rs. 120 billion is stuck-up on account of duty drawback on local taxes (DLTL) and customs rebates. Whereas only Rs.103 billion have been released so far.

    President FPCCI said that the number of sales tax refunds cases have been considerably increased after imposition of 17 percent sales tax on domestic supply chain of five leading export-oriented sectors and the government has failed to refund sales tax claim amount under FASTER system within 72 hours, rather Government has not paid exporters’ claims for the last several months.

    He apprehended that if the government does not realize the gravity of situation and exporter’s refunds are not released on war footing basis, the export sector will completely collapse leading to huge unemployment in the country.

    Mian Anjum Nisar said that the export is largely a function of industrial production, whereas large scale industry registered a negative growth of 6.45 percent during the first four months of the fiscal year 2020-21, therefore, exports have also registered a meager 3.2 percent growth during the first half of the year. Pakistan’s exports are stuck-up around $ 23 billion range since last year.

    He apprehended that FBR’s strict policy would completely hurt the value added export sectors and therefore, urged the government to take all necessary steps to release payments of pending refund claims to the exporters immediately and restore zero rating of sales tax that is no payment no refund regime.

  • Textile industry demands clearance of raw material stopped on coronavirus threat

    Textile industry demands clearance of raw material stopped on coronavirus threat

    KARACHI: Textile industry has demanded the government authorities of early clearance of raw material consignments that are stuck up due to measures taken for prevention of coronavirus.

    Zubair Motiwala, Patron of SITE Association of Industry, in a statement on Tuesday appealed the government to allow early clearance of imports consignments containing dyes and chemicals, from China.

    He said that Pakistan’s imports from China are of $12 billion and mostly comprise of dyes and chemicals which are basic raw material for textile sector – the biggest foreign exchange earning sector in Pakistan.

    Motiwala said that It is a known fact that prices of raw material area increasing due to consignments stuck up at Chinese ports and other alternative suppliers such as Korea, Taiwan and India have now either stopped supplying or quoting 30 to 35 pc higher prices.

    Members are complaining that it is becoming difficult to continue production activities due to shortage of raw material, while prices in the local market have gone up by 50-100 percent.

    He further added that in such scenario, opportunity of increasing exports has now become the question of survival for local textile industries.

    Everyone is talking about increasing exports from the country, but the fact is that production cannot be undertaken in the absence of raw material. Value-added textile sector requires ample quantity of dyes and chemicals to complete processing & finishing of fabric.

    It is obvious that no one keeps the inventory for more than 1 or 2 months due to cash flow constraints as large amount of exporters are stuck up in sales tax refunds.

    Also every item doesn’t utilize simultaneously and sometime, one item is required and some other item available in stock is not needed.

    “Therefore, it is feared that exports, instead of increasing with the kind of advantage, it might be the other way round as it is in common knowledge that orders are based on season to season at least for six months in advance and if this price hike continues and consignments are not timely cleared, production would suffer and industries would not be able to complete their orders on time and as per commitment,” Motiwala remarked.

    He requested Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Commerce Minister to foresee this situation and take urgent measures, as import consignments are lying on Chinese ports and Pakistan Embassy and Consulate in China be directed to work in this regard.

    If the situation prevails, other countries would increase raw material prices further. The govt. should immediately withdraw all the levies and front loading with immediate effect so that there should be minimum burden on cost escalation on the products which is being sold earlier to this crisis.

  • Coronavirus threat: KCCI demands waiver of demurrage, detention charges on Chinese consignments

    Coronavirus threat: KCCI demands waiver of demurrage, detention charges on Chinese consignments

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has demanded the government authorities to waive demurrage and detention charges on Chinese consignments that are stopped due to threat of coronavirus.

    KCCI President Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan in a statement urged the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to come up with some kind of a ‘Special Policy’ to save the importers of various goods and commodities from suffering severe losses due to ban imposed on imports from China because of the outbreak of corona virus, COVID-19.

    He urged the relevant authority to issues notification in which the port authorities and all terminal operators must be advised to refrain from imposing demurrage and detention charges on those consignments which have already arrived at the Pakistani ports from China but were not being cleared.

    “Any demurrage or detention charges already applied on such consignments must immediately be waived off which would certainly be widely welcomed by the business community”, he added.

    He said that many importers, while seeking KCCI’s assistance, informed that their imported consignments from China have been put on hold at the ports in order to prevent the outbreak of deadly corona virus in Pakistan which has terribly affected capital of Hubei province, Wuhan and resulted in hundreds casualties so far besides spreading further in more than 20 countries.

    “Many import related documents have also not been received by relevant importers as no parcels were arriving from China and other affected countries, making it impossible for the importers to timely fulfill all the documentation formalities which are required for clearance of imported goods hence their consignments remain blocked at the ports and are resulting in additional demurrage and detention charges”, he said.

    “We fully understand the sensitivity of the issue and support the government’s moves to save Pakistan from the outbreak of the COVID-19 but the importers should not be penalized and relief has to be provided to the perturbed traders by waiving the demurrage and detention charges.”

    He said that out of a total bilateral trade of around US$12 billion between Pakistan and China, around US$6 billion has been transacted so far but the downfall in trade would certainly appear by the end of current fiscal year and US$12 billion mark will not be achieved due to complete suspension of trade between the two countries.

    “The outbreak of corona virus is an opportunity for the local industry as we have to look into the possibility of what we can produce on our own which was previously being imported from China prior to suspension of trade”, he added.

    He stressed that the lethal virus has been rapidly spreading in many countries around the world including some countries bordering Pakistan hence, the government will have to take stringent measures to save our country from the eruption of deadly virus.

    He hoped that the relevant departments would realize the gravity of the situation and relief will soon be provided to the importers as soon as possible by urging the port authorities not to demand any demurrage and detention charges from those importers whose goods were arriving from China which would certainly be welcomed.

  • Poisonous gas incident: KCCI criticizes NDMA

    Poisonous gas incident: KCCI criticizes NDMA

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Monday criticized the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for not responding to the tragic incident of poisonous gas leakage in Kemari area, which claimed six lives.

    Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, President, KCCI while expressing deep concerns over the death of six people and hospitalization of dozens of others on Sunday night in Kemari area due to diffusion poisonous gas in the air, stated that it was really unfortunate and worrisome to see that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which was established with a prime objective to respond to such calamities, neither reached the affected area to rescue and find out the causes nor bothered to give any statement over the tragic incident.

    “Is NDMA responsible for responding only to those disasters in which more than 100 casualties occur”, he asked, adding that life of a single innocent person in such a calamity is also equally important hence, the NDMA and others must respond as quickly as possible.

    Agha Shahab stressed that NDMA should have rapidly responded to this particular incident in Kemari as soon as the first causality was reported but unfortunately, people kept losing their lives and dozens were hospitalized while the disaster management authority was not seen anywhere around and only a handful of the volunteers from Edhi and Chhipa reached the spot to rescue the affectees.

    He further urged that the concerned authorities must thoroughly investigate and find out the exact source of poisonous gas and accordingly take strict measures to avoid such incidents in future. “A Rapid Response Force must be established to deal with such calamities in Karachi as it is not the first time when people lost their lives. People are losing their lives in various incidents including fire eruptions, explosions caused by gas cylinders, buildings’ collapse and fatal road accidents etc. but no dedicated and fully equipped Rapid Response Force exists in the city that always results in raising the number of casualties”, he added.

    He was of the opinion that all such incidents remain confined to just summoning a report by the Chief Minister but no concrete step has ever been taken to minimize the loss of precious lives which is really worrisome for business community and the citizens of Karachi.

    He said that all the financial resources of Karachi are being utilized to run the entire country but a meager amount was hardly being spent on the city’s development. In response to Kemari incident, Federal Minister for Maritime Ali Zaidi stated that KPT has no resources to deal with such tragedies while the Sindh government and Mayor KMC are also complaining about having limited or no resources. It appears that Karachi, which contributes more than 70 percent revenue to the national exchequer is constantly being neglected by all three tiers of the government and continues to receive step motherly treatment, he added.

  • ‘Business Optimism Index’ launched: Business optimistic on situation to improve

    ‘Business Optimism Index’ launched: Business optimistic on situation to improve

    KARACHI: Dun & Bradstreet has launched its World Renowned ‘Business Optimism Index’ for Pakistan according to which Businesses in Pakistan are overall optimistic about their outlook for Q1, 2020.

    The composite Business Optimism Score stands at 144.6 points compared to a benchmark neutral value of 100 points.

    As per the report, Large Companies are relatively more optimistic than Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as the composite score for large companies stands at 149.5 points compared to 137.3 points for SMEs. Additionally, companies in the Services Sector are more optimistic than Trading and Manufacturing Sectors.

    Dun & Bradstreet’s ‘Business Optimism Index’ was initiated in the early 1900’s has now made its way to Pakistan. This report will be published every quarter and aims to measure the pulse of the business community, and serve as a tool to assess the business outlook in Pakistan.

    The responses for the business situation reflect respondents’ outlook in regards to the current business situation (Q4, 2019) and forecast business situation (Q1, 2020).

    Based on the results, respondents are more optimistic with respect to forecast business situation vis-a-vis to the current business situation. About 66 percent of the respondents expect business situation to be good in the upcoming quarter compared to 42 percent of respondents in the current quarter.

    About 9 percent of the respondents expect their business situation to be poor in the upcoming quarter, compared to 16 percent in the current quarter which is a positive indicator for businesses.

    Key business challenges highlight issues perceived by businesses at the end of Q4, 2019 that have impacted near term business growth and development.

    According to the results, 42 percent of the respondents consider Government fees / taxes as one of the major challenges followed by competition (34 percent), and unfavorable business regulations (30 percent).

    About 40 percent of respondents also reported other factors to be major challenges amongst which exchange rate fluctuation (7 percent), political instability (6 percent) and economic slowdown (3 percent) were most prominent.

  • FPCCI urges government to declare cotton emergency

    FPCCI urges government to declare cotton emergency

    KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Friday urged the government to declare cotton emergency in order to increase the crop size.

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