GUJRAT: The electric fan manufacturers are disappointed with the federal budget as their long-standing demand for withdrawal of 20pc regulatory duty on import of electric steel sheet has once again been ignored by the government.

The electrical steel sheet is the major raw material in the production of a quality electric fan that consumes less energy as compared to the one produced by substandard raw material.

Haji Muhammad Ilyas, former president of the Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the fan industry had been provided no relief in the new federal budget despite consistent demand by the industry to either withdraw or reduce the regulatory duty on import of steel sheet. One per cent decrease in corporate tax was also nothing for domestic industry that requires much more attention of the government to help the industry compete at the international level, he said. However, he added, the industry might have a meagre relief due to the 5pc decrease in duty on aluminium.

A local manufacturer told Dawn the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) keeping in view the low prices of steel sheet had levied a 20pc regulatory duty on the sheet’s import and the fan manufacturers were asked to have their quotas approved to get rid of the duty. But, he said, only a dozen manufacturers out of 150 had the ability and financial resources to directly import such raw material and the rest of them would were relying on the commercial importers who also charged taxes who kept their own profit. This had increased the cost of business for an ordinary manufacturer since the size of the industry was small, he added.

Aamir Mir, a small-scale manufacturer, said the local industry was already suffering a lot due to the energy crisis and they were compelled to import solar motors from China to manufacture solar fans those demand was high in the domestic market.

“The fan industry needs an attention of the federal government that can provide a relief through withdrawal of the regulatory duty and other levies as the Pakistani fans are also losing clients in the international market due to its high prices,” said Mr Mir.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017