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Import duty on sugar increased to 30pc
LAHORE—Federal Commerce Minister Abdul Razzak Dawood informed
Friday that import duty on sugar has been increased from 20
per cent to 30 per cent to protect the local sugar industry.
He clarified that the sugarcane price announced by the
government was indicative, not the support one. “ The mills
can buy the produce above and below this level as it
(indicative price) is just a point of reference,” he said.
He said that the sugar mills in Sindh were presently
purchasing sugarcane at a rate of Rs 48 per 40 kg against the
indicative price of Rs 43.To a question, he said that the
scheme for the export of 200,000 tonnes of sugar on self-help
basis had been dropped as the millers could not develop some
consensus among themselves on this
issue.
However, he said, the exporters were free to export the
commodity without seeking government subsidy.Quoting the
estimates regarding the carryover sugar stocks of the last
crushing from the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), he
said that the level of carry over stocks in the country which
stood at 370,000 tonnes on November 1, were likely to the mark
of 150,000 tonnes by today (Saturday).
“ The left over stocks can feed 140 million population of the
country for just 15 days which consumes about 3.2 million
tonnes of the commodity annually,” he said.
He said that the government was working on a long term sugar
policy to make the sugar business internationally competitive
and added that a similar plan would made for the wheat sector.
The Minister said that he is scheduled to visit the United
States next week to discuss issues like the increased market
access for Pakistani products.Talking to the newsmen at Small
& Medium Enterprises Authority (SMEDA) office the minister,
after
attending a couple of meetings on differnet sectors, furhter
disclosed that Secretary Commerce will be leaving for the US
today (Saturday).
“There are positive indications from the United States
regarding the market access and decrease in the tariff,” he
said.He said the immediate grant of trade concessions from the
United States was pegged on early passage of the Trade
Promotion Act (TPA) in the congress. The bill, he said, was
being presented in the Congress on December 6.
If the TPA was passed, the US administration would get more
powers to provide trade concessions to America’s trade
partners including Pakistan.
He further told that China is planning to set up a ‘silk park’
in Pakistan for the printing of plain silk cloth and its
conversion into garments. “The Chinese who will export the
plain silk cloth as raw material to the industrial units being
set up in the proposed park, have asked us for identification
of the area for this purpose,” Federal Commerce Minister,
Abdul Razzak Dawood told a press conference here Friday
morning.
Giving details of the outcome of his recent visit to China, he
said that a Chinese delegation would soon visit Pakistan to
discuss further details of the project.He said any of the
cities like Karachi or Faisalabad might be chosen for the
development of this
facility.
The Chinese had also agreed on greater cooperation in the
field of textiles, and the option of having joint ventures
with Chinese firms could be considered, he added.
He said that the garments industry in China was developing
fast, and that they were in need of big quantity of grey cloth
as the raw material.
According to him, a 25-member trade delegation will accompany
President General Pervez Musharraf during his visit to China
from December 21.“The delegation will include businessmen from
sectors like seafood, textiles, leather and silk,”
he added. The minister said that a total of 100,000 bales of
fine quality cotton were produced in Balochistan which was so
far known more for its fruits and mines.
“The cotton which I witnessed in the Balochistan district of
Naseerabad was even better than that of Rahim Yar Khan in the
Punjab, in terms of characteristics and quality,” he said.
He said that ‘Balochistan Cotton Development Strategy’ would
soon be developed by a committee constituted for the purpose
by coming February, well ahead of the next sowing season. “We
want to make Balochistan cotton a mark of high quality in the
near future,” he observed.He said that Khuzdar district was
being included by the federal government as a cotton growing
area in Balochistan from the next season, and all incentives
and facilities would also be extended to the farmers of this
region.
To a question, he said that the contamination level in the
cotton produce in Rahim Yar Khan district had decreased to the
mark of 5 grams per bale against 15 grams last year. Inshallah,
it would be brought to 2.5 grams per bale next year, he hoped.
He expressed his satisfaction over the efforts to produce
contamination-free cotton in Rahimyar Khan. However, he said,
the efforts could not get desired results in Ghotki district
of Sindh.
December 6, 2001
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