KARACHI, March 2: The Customs have stopped clearance of MEK and toluene, a basic raw material used in manufacturing of adhesive and rubber solution, and has asked the importers to provide NOC from the ministry of narcotics control. The clearance has been stopped since January, 2007.

Pakistan Adhesive and Rubber Solution Manufacturers and Traders Association (Pamta) has taken up the matter with the government but there is no response.

A Pamta spokesman said that the narcotics ministry was of the view that these chemicals were being misused for production of narcotics.

However, the ministry’s assumption is based on hypothesis. He said that virtually any volatile material could help in the production of narcotics and such restrictions may not be effective in controlling production.

The original import policy of 2005-06 had introduced restrictions for free import of the above raw-materials and only industrial consumers were allowed.

On September 15, 2005, the commerce ministry resolved the issue and import policy was amended to allow commercial import with the condition that a bi-monthly report would be provided to the narcotics ministry. The import policy 2006-07 maintained the same amended version and there was no problem as such.

The association feels that the new requirement of NOC from the narcotics ministry is in contradiction to the import policy order 2006-07.

The Pamta spokesman said that some 80-100 containers, carrying 14 tons of raw materials each had been waiting for clearance after the new condition of NOC.

He said these chemicals have an industrial consumption of about 15,000 tons per annum. As of 2005, there were more than 200 units of adhesive manufacturing in Pakistan (about 10-15 medium-scale and the rest smaller).

Their market share of the local products was 80 per cent against 20 per cent of the imported products.

In a letter to the commerce ministry, the Pamta said that due to the restriction and other disparities in tariff for raw-material for local industry and for imported finished goods, the local products are costly by 20 per cent than the imported finished goods.

Since the year 2005, the market share of the local producers has gone down from 80 per cent to 50 per cent and it’s going down further.

The market size of the locally-produced adhesive is above Rs1.5 billion, of which around Rs350 million goes to the government as revenue annually.

Adhesives have necessary applications in almost all industries such as shoe-making, leather, textiles, furniture, automobile, foam, construction, etc. Hundreds of thousands of people are associated with these industries and they are under threat of unemployment.

The association said that the shoe-making was an export-oriented industry and already facing tough competition from China and India in the international market.

In case of no action, the local shoe industry would close down.

It further said that the chemicals in question are not classified as narcotic drugs. As per UN convention, there is a clear difference between narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.