KARACHI, Nov 18: The Director General of Customs Valuation has finally fixed the import value of Chinese carburettor at $6.85 per piece after a gap of one and half years.

The C&F price of other four China-made bike parts has slightly been changed. The C&F price of piston, magneto assembly, capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) and key lock set (of five pieces) has been revised at $1.55, $6.70, $0.88 and $2.86 per piece respectively. The Chinese bike makers were importing carburettor at $13 per piece previously.

The Customs department had taken the decision after taking in account the view points of Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers (PAMA), Pakistan Association of Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM), assemblers of Chinese bikes and Motorcycle Spare Parts Importers and Dealers Association (MSPIDA). Besides, the Customs Department had also conducted a market survey to fix the valuation of parts.

PAMA and PAAPAM had suggested the import value of $14.31, $3.60, $7, $1.60 and $4.31 for carburettor, piston, magneto assembly, CDI and key lock sets, respectively. They were of the view that the price of bike parts depend largely on the weight therefore the valuation/assessment should be done on per piece and weight basis.

They said that the price of motorcycle parts/components particularly carburettor of China and Japan origin was the same and there was no difference in function and quality though production cost of China-made carburettor was slightly lower.

The items like CDI unit and the lock key set were high technology items and manufacturing cost of the same in the local vendor market was quite high. Therefore the price of similar China-made parts had also to be high.

Chinese bike makers were of the view that local motorcycle makers under various Japanese brands had only one target to create their monopoly by way of driving other competitors out of the market.

In the past (before the arrival of Chinese bikes) the Japanese bike makers had literally fleeced the consumers by charging higher prices of their choices as there was no competition in the market. With the arrival of Chinese bike, they had cut down the prices significantly which meant they were overcharging the consumers.

It was a dire need to allow Chinese bike makers to survive in the market in a competitive business environment.

They said that the import price of carburettor produced by Honda Japan was $11 per piece while the price of same item produced by China was not over $4. There was no justification of putting the value of Chinese carburettor at $13.