May 31, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18,1423

KARACHI, May 30: Pakistan Tea Association (PTA) has said that the cumulative impact of import duty on tea comes to 66 per cent instead of 40 per cent as mentioned in a news item, appeared on Business Page of May 29.

Chairman PTA, Mohammad Hanif Janoo, in a statement, said that there is no under invoicing in tea to fight the smugglers. Every invoice of tea is certified by the PTA for price and quality.

He said importers are helpless as smuggled tea is now reaching every corner of the country without any check. The smuggling can be controlled by reducing import duty on tea to 15 per cent from 25 per cent, he added.