August 23, 2007	Thursday	Sha’aban 9, 1428

GUJRANWALA: Gujranwala’s sanitary industry has been badly hit by scarcity and high prices of raw materials, high cost of production, export of brass to China and India and smuggled Chinese products.

The aforementioned factors have reduced the size of the industry to almost its half while 80 per cent of the smaller units have been closed due to these impediments.

The data shows that within the last three years the number of units making sanitary products in Gujranwala has reduced form 225 to 130. Similarly, the number of labourers engaged in the industry has also been reduced from 12,000 to 7,000. The slump has brought down the volume of exports by 50 per cent.

Sources said the decline in the industry has also hit the fringe units making plastic knobs used in the sanitary products, cutting their number from 500 units to 200 only.

Many of those who closed their units have started trading in Chinese products while the labourers rendered jobless have been forced to join other professions.

Within two years, the market sources say, the rate of brass has gone up from Rs80 per kilogram to Rs225, while that of the nickel plate from Rs400 to Rs4,000. They said that eight months ago when the brass rate jumped above Rs300 per kilogram, it caused closure of many factories.

The high rate of brass compelled the industrialists to use pewter for making parts of sanitary fittings to decrease production cost but the high demand of pewter pushed its rate up from Rs50 per kilogram to Rs175, making it impossible for the owner of smaller units to run the business..

Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and Industry former president Ikhlaq Ahmed Butt told Dawn that the major reason behind the slump was export of brass to India and China, which were the main competitors of Pakistani products in the markets of Far East, Middle East, and Africa.

He said to escape the regulatory duty imposed on raw brass exports the businessmen started exporting brass rods and sheets to India and China which raised the prices in Pakistan.

He said the sanitary exports from China and India enjoyed certain rebates and facilities announced by the respective governments which were denied to local exporters.

He said the smuggled Chinese sanitary fittings were also adversely affecting the local industry.

He demanded the government should levy regulatory duties on export of brass products to help improve condition of local manufacturers.

Munir Ahmed and Muhammad Imran –- both sanitary industry workers – said there had been drastic downsizing of labour in small units which remained closed for days due to scarcity of raw material.