KARACHI: Amid ongoing temporary plant shutdowns by various textile mills, car assemblers and their vendors, Millat Tractors Ltd (MTL) has also suspended its plant operations, effective Jan 6, till further notice due to continuous drop in demand for tractors and cashflow constraints, the company announced through a stock filing on Thursday.

The leading tractor assembler announced last month to observe Fridays as “non-production days” from Dec 16, 2022 till further notice.

From Aug 31 to Sept 23, MTL kept its plant operations closed due to devastating floods that had damaged road infrastructure.

The company assembled and sold 6,417 and 5,800 units in 5MFY23 versus 14,073 and 13,954 units in the same period last fiscal year.

Plunging sales of farm machinery reflect a slowdown in overall agriculture activities.

SECP vows to reform PMEX

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Akif Saeed said on Thursday regulatory and structural reforms will be introduced to link the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) with the rural economy.

The SECP chairperson, accompanied by senior officials of the commission, met board members and senior management of the PMEX as well as the Central Depository Company (CDC) in his visit to Karachi, said a press release.

Mr Saeed reviewed the progress on new Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR) contracts and discussed the measures to promote trading on the PMEX. The PMEX can provide alternative avenues for liquidity to the

producers and processors of agricultural commodities, he said.

Published in Dawn, january 6th, 2023