The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Thursday demanded Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to reduce import duty on the raw material of tin can industry from existing 25 percent to 5 percent duty as the high duty structure was damaging the whole industrial segment.
In a joint statement, the LCCI President Shahid Hassan Sheikh, Senior Vice President Yaqoob Tahir Izhar and Vice President Mubasher Sheikh said that high duty tariff on the raw material of tin can industry has now started taking its toll as so far 200 tin can units have been closed down rendering 3,000 people jobless. They said that the cut in duty would help save a huge amount of Rs3.8 billion being spent on import of tin cans by leading food and beverage companies.
They said that it was very strange that duty on import of empty finished tin cans and on its raw material was same, which was against the basics of the government business policy. They said that because of high duty tariff on the raw material of the industry the country was spending a huge amount on the import of canned juices and once the duty is reduced the local juice manufacturers would be able to ensure locally canned juices in the market.