SIALKOT, June 20: The uncertainty on political horizon and upsurge in the period of power outages during the current year has affected all sectors of the industry and the stainless steel is one of the worst victims.

More than 50 per cent business of the stainless steel industry has declined in the country because of increase in prices of raw materials.

All Pakistan Stainless Steel Traders Association central president Ghulam Hussain told reporters that the main stainless steel sheets selling units were located in Karachi, Sialkot, Lahore and Gujranwala.

He said over 500 such units were functioning in Gujranwala alone where traders were importing around 5,000 tons of steel sheets every month from Japan, China and other European countries.

Mr Hussain said these units processed the stainless steel sheets and then supplied these to the surgical and other industries in Sialkot.

He said the prices of raw materials had registered a 30 per cent increase due to prolonged power loadshedding and political instability in the country, affecting badly their business.

He urged the federal and provincial governments to take urgent measures to save the stainless steel industry from crumbling.