ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers’ Association (PVMA) has asked the government to reduce the withholding tax to one per cent from three per cent on imported edible oils.

PVMA Secretary Dr Ghulam Samdani said on Thursday that the PVMA in its general body meeting had decided to press the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to reduce the impact of duty and taxes on the vegetable and oil industry in the country.

It was also decided to set up a committee to identify viable sources of transportation of edible oils through railways etc, he added.

The PVMA secretary demanded of the CBR to immediately amend the notification to release the withheld refunds due to the ghee exporters.

He said that the chairman PVMA would lead a delegation to Malaysia and Indonesia from November 21 to hold talks with the Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia and GAPKI of Indonesia on instances of short shipment of the quantity received from the suppliers. The issues pertaining to shipment delays as well as delay in receipt of shipping documents required for clearance would also come for discussion, he added.

During three months period the PVMA member units received a short supply of edible oils amounting to 2,115 tons out of the total 423,810 tons of edible oil booked with the suppliers in Indonesia and Malaysia.

As a result the PVMA members had to suffer a financial loss of Rs94 million during the last three months besides, the loss on account of short quantity. The PVMA units also had to pay customs duty, regulatory duty, federal excise duty, sales tax and income tax on this quantity to the government.

In such a situation, the PVMA members are facing a financial loss of over Rs375 million on a yearly basis.