Government urged to remove regulatory duty on import of tyres

Pakistan Tyre Importers and Dealers Association (PTIDA) has demanded of the government to remove regulatory duty on tyres.

A delegation of PTIDA, led by Shahid Anwal, chairman of the FPCCI standing

committee on tyres, along with Azeem K. Yousufzai, chairman of PTIDA, Syed Burqi, senior vice chairman of PTIDA, Muhammad Qamar and Muhammad Shahid, called on Vice President Sheikh Sultan Rehman and Zakaria Usman, convener of the FPCCI Advisory Council on Budget.

The delegation apprised them of various slabs of regulatory duty on tyres which in effect was encouraging smuggling of tyres and causing a significant revenue loss to the government.

The delegation said that there was a 200 percent increase in tyres smuggled into Pakistan via Afghan transit trade.

It was highly unfortunate that up to 86 percent demand for truck tyres, 69 percent for light truck and van tyres and 69 percent for car tyres in Pakistan was met by smuggled tyres.

This situation was not only hurting legal trade in Pakistan but also depriving the national exchequer of valuable revenue.

They demanded an end to regulatory duty on tyres to revive local trade and to discourage rampant smuggling of tyres in the country.

Zakaria Usman said that if local manufacturers could meet 70 percent demand for tyres in the country then the regulatory duty could have been justified on account of protecting the local industry but when the demand was met with import then the regulatory duty did not make sense.

Under the prevailing condition of COVID-19 almost all sectors were facing difficulties, including the importers of tyres. Regulatory duty was hurting the business of tyres importers through legal channel and should be immediately removed.