June 26, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 25,1424

KARACHI, June 25: General Tyres is expanding its production capacity to 1.3 million tyres per year from 1 million with an investment of Rs500 million, Haroon Zuberi, the Managing Director of the company informed a press briefing on Wednesday.

With a workforce of 1,500, he said, his company showed a total sales of Rs2.26 billion in 01-02. He said the company produces tyres for cars, light trucks, heavy trucks and busses and tractors.

At present local production meets only 31 per cent demand of the Pakistan’s tyre market while 53 per cent is met through imports and 16 per cent through smuggling. General Tyres command a sizeable share of the local market and has the potential to increase its share as well as export if given right incentives, he said. Low import duty and smuggling are the twin menace that hurts industry and renders almost 66 per cent capacity inoperational. His company pays Rs550 million in taxes every year.

The company expects to earn one million dollars through export of tyres this year.

Haroon Zuberi said that Japanese auto assemblers in Pakistan are his biggest consumers who take up 50 per cent share while 45 per cent goes to the market and 5 per cent is bought by the government.