Shortage of poultry products feared

Delay in clearance of poultry feed ingredients by Customs authorities at ports may engender shortage of poultry products in Ramazan and thereafter. Industry sources said that in the fiscal budget for the year 2017-18, the federal government has given incentives to poultry sector to ensure smooth supply of poultry products and to further promote the poultry sector. The Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, also highlighted the importance of poultry sector, in his speech and during the course of a meeting.
However, Pakistan Poultry Association rings an alarm bell alerting about poultry products shortage in coming days because Customs authorities at the ports have been denying clearance of poultry feed ingredients including vitamin and amino acid premixes for poultry feed. "There is a great likelihood that because of the shortage of poultry feed ingredients, there will be short supply of poultry feed resulting into severe losses on account of mortality, delayed weight gains and drop in egg production which will culminate in long term shortages because once the breeding stock is adversely hit, production will continue to suffer throughout their lifecycle," warned the association on Tuesday.
These poultry feed ingredients and premixes are being imported since the past 50 years as non-drugs. Suddenly, now they are being considered drugs, it mentioned. According to the Association, all the imported items fall under PCT heading 23.09 'preparations of a kind used for animal feeding.' Under Note (c), heading: 'preparations for use in making complete feeds,' supplementary feeds clearly distinguishes items falling under 23.09 and those as non-drugs, which in fact have been put into actual practice during the past 50 years. As such, there is no reason for the customs authorities to withhold clearance. Currently, hundreds of containers valuing more than millions of dollars are stranded at the seaports. These items of poultry feed which include vitamins and amino acids are highly sensitive to temperatures and are likely to lose their potency on account of any further delay. At the same time, the government is losing substantial revenue as an outcome of withholding the clearance and the importers are suffering heavy demurrages because of misinterpretation by the Customs authorities, the PPA said. The Poultry Association has also approached Federal Minster for Finance, Senator Ishaq Dar and Haroon Akhter, Advisor to PM on Revenue for their intervention to ensure continued supply of poultry products especially in the month of Ramazan.