KARACHI: Atif Ikram Sheikh, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), has welcomed the two-month extension in the waiver for Dangerous Petroleum Licenses (DPL) for clearance of the import consignments vis-à-vis chemical and petrochemical industrial raw materials that fall under the Petroleum Classifications of A, B and C.
It is pertinent to note that the above-mentioned waiver, as per Department of Explosives’ letter dated September 10, 2025, will be valid till October 23, 2025 – and, FPCCI, on behalf of the entire business, industry and trade community of Pakistan, has appreciated the much needed intervention.
Sheikh thanked Ali Pervaiz Malik, Federal Minister for Energy (Petroleum Division) and Abdul Ali Khan, DG Explosives, for consideration and resolution of the issue; so that, pending consignments can be cleared without any further hassle or delay. He; however, stressed that DG Explosives should engage FPCCI for a long-term and sustainable resolution of the issue.
Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, SVP FPCCI, explained that there are thousands of industrial chemicals in the world, which are used as industrial raw materials; and, not all chemicals are required to be handled like inflammable petroleum products. He maintained that explosives department needs to regulate only those chemicals that come under the definition of petroleum as rest of the chemicals are already being regulated by other relevant departments.
Magoon highlighted the fact that due to unnecessary conditionalities in licensing, storage and transportation of petrochemicals, there is a growing concern of shortage of chemicals used as industrial raw materials. These issues can result in a very negative and debilitating effect on industrial production and also the exports of the country, he added.
For further action, Asif Sakhi, VP FPCCI has proposed that all important chemicals, which are used as industrial raw materials, should be correctly, fairly and logically classified for a permanent resolution of this longstanding and recurrent issue.
Abdul Ali Khan, DG Explosives, had earlier assured FPCCI that he will facilitate industrial importers through whatever permissible mechanism and leverage is available at the department’s disposal. He further added that his department is only concerned with the chemicals containing hydrocarbons.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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