GUJRAT is known for its electric consumer fan industry. The city remains the largest hub of fan manufacturing in the country despite the expansion of production to the adjoining Gujranwala as well as to Lahore and Karachi over the past few decades.

Though no exact, reliable numbers are available, the manufacturers estimate that more than three quarters of the country’s total fan production is still based in Gujrat. In all, Pakistan manufactures around 10m consumer fans of all types every year, worth Rs18-20bn.

“There are over 350 small- to large-sized fan manufacturing units in Gujrat making pedestal, ceiling, wall and exhaust fans,” asserts Ali Usman, chief executive of Parwaz Fan and a former chairman of the Pakistan Electric Fan Manufacturers Association (PEFMA), while talking to Dawn during a visit to his factory in Gujrat.

The fan industry contributes around 0.15pc to GDP and employs 25,000-30,000 people. It also feeds on a number of supporting industries such as plastic, aluminium casting and steel etc

Fan manufacturing in Gujrat dates back to pre-independence years. According to some accounts, a small family-run unit obtained the knowledge of electric fan production by sending one of its members to learn the trade from a fan producer in Bombay (some say to Amritsar) years before independence.

In the post-independence years, the industry grew slowly because electric fans were considered a ‘luxury’ item. But production picked momentum in the 1960s onwards as ‘demand grew rapidly’ on rising incomes.

Today, the fan industry contributes around 0.15pc to GDP and employs 25,000-30,000 people. It also feeds on a number of supporting industries such as plastic, aluminium casting and steel etc, with 300-400 vendors in Gujrat alone supplying these items to the small and large fan manufacturers in the city.

“Of all the fan manufacturing companies, only a handful — about six — can be categorized as large-scale units with in-house capacity to conduct most production processes with the help of high investment and modern technology,” says Nabeel Ilyas, sales director at G.F.C. Fans, one of the three largest fan producers from Gujrat. The company has around a one-sixth share in the local market and one-third in the country’s fan exports.

The 40-50 remaining units are categorised as medium-sized firms, while the rest are considered small-scale producers. “Even many small manufacturers sell their products under brand names,” Nabeel notes.

Pakistan entered the international market in the early 1990s, but its share in the world fan trade of $3bn remains at around a paltry $40-50m (1.8m fans). And these are confined to cheaper consumer electric fans.

“There is lot of potential to increase fan exports from Pakistan,” contends Ali. “But to increase our share in the global export market, we must find new markets like Malaysia and South Africa, and diversify into the production of industrial fans and disposable plastic fans.”

Pakistan’s fan exports are concentrated mainly in countries with harsh, warm weather, like those in Africa, Middle East and the Gulf, along with Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

“We can raise our exports substantially if we diversify into disposable plastic fans to capture the richer consumer markets like the United States and Europe. China has a major market share in this segment,” adds Nabeel.

The limited product range and market means disturbances in one importing country can significantly affect Pakistan’s fan exports.

“The recent Yemen crisis has substantially affected our export performance this year as that country is a major buyer of Pakistani electric fans,” says Nabeel. His company is setting up a fan manufacturing unit in Bangladesh in collaboration with a local partner to protect its sales there in view of the not-so-cordial relationship between Islamabad and Dhaka.

Pakistan’s fan industry has developed without any ‘positive’ government intervention or support. In fact, government policies are often blamed by the manufacturers for stunting the industry’s growth and expansion in the global export market.

“The energy shortages and high costs are a major problem facing the industry. It has hugely impacted the small- and medium-sized manufacturers,” says Ali.

“The government’s recent decision to increase the regulatory duty on steel sheets that are used to produce energy-efficient fans to 27.5pc will prove to be a blow to the production of quality consumer fans in the country,” he complains.

Moreover, the delays in the refund of export claims mean a liquidity crunch for the smaller manufacturers. “The government hasn’t paid the fan exporters their refunds for the last two years.”

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, August 10th, 2015

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