March 22, 2002	Friday	Muharram 7, 1423

KARACHI, March 21: Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) has urged the government to withdraw the proposed imposition of 15 per cent sales tax from April 1 on the import of poultry, veterinary medicines and vaccinations.

This was stated by former chairman PPA, Afsar Qadri, convener pharmaceutical committee, Mohammad Irfan and convener press and media committee, PPA, Maroof Siddiqui in a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

They said that the levy of sales tax will surge the production cost of poultry products as the share of poultry vaccine and medicine is about 12 per cent in the total cost of production.

They said the imposition of sales tax will push the poultry sector into crisis as the industry is already facing problems due to decline in consumption of poultry products by 40-45 per cent in the wake of ban on serving meals in marriage parties.

Afsar Qadri dispelled the impression that the farm owners will increase the prices when the sales tax comes into force from next month.

“We basically depend on the demand and supply situation and cannot directly pass on the impact of any tariff changes to the consumers,” he said.