January 31, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 1, 1427

KARACHI, Jan 30: More than 75 per cent sales of electrical and electronic items are Chinese and only 25 per cent are locally-assembled products. This was revealed by Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA) president Abdul Waheed Memon and general secretary Raza Abidi at a joint press conference on Monday.

Even the 25 per cent of locally assembled items are dependent on the import of parts and material arriving from China, they said.

They said that Chinese items were gaining popularity because of cheap prices, thus giving a tough time to the domestic industry and rendering local products uncompetitive.

They added that smuggling of Chinese goods through various channels was thriving and this was the reason that smugglers were dumping goods in Pakistan at throwaway prices.

“If a commercial importer pays Rs1 million in terms of duty on 40-ft container of electronic goods, the smugglers clear their consignments by paying just few thousand rupees,” they said.

On the efforts to discourage sale of stolen mobile phones, Mr Memon said that in the last five months the association had handed over 500 stolen sets to the CPLC and helped in the arrest of 32 persons. “I do not know what the police have done afterwards with the stolen mobiles and arrested persons,” he added.

He said that the KEDA planned to organize International Electrical and Electronic Exhibition at the Expo Centre this year. “We are waiting for the consent of the prime minister or the president so that the actual date could be fixed for the inauguration,” he said.

He added that retailers as well as local companies would arrange stalls at the exhibition so that visitors could purchase items at discount rates.