What 30 industries are you talking about? most of Pakistani industry is being hurt cause of security situation energy shortages And Smuggling.
A lot of goods being smuggled into Pakistan via Sri Lanka DUBAI and Afghanistan are made in India and the only people benefiting right now are the smugglers + corrupt officials so how come same thing coming into Pakistan legally going to hurt the industry when its already here.
Over the last Ten Years there have been umpteen Articles in the Pakistani Print Media.
Here is the latest :
Pol Eco, NOS, The News International
Dumping ground
Will our exporters gain anything from the $35bn Pak-China trade deals?
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
The recent visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Pakistan and signing of economic deals worth $35 billion are being widely discussed at different forums. The deals include 17 agreements and four memorandums of understanding (MoUs). There is also an agreement between a Chinese company and the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) of Pakistan for setting up wind power and solar energy projects in the country.
The figure seems highly appealing to the eye
but in press reports there is hardly a mention of the respective share of both the countries in this trade. An analysis of mutual trade statistics reveals that
since the signing of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries in Nov 2006, China has exported goods worth around $ 11 billion whereas Pakistans exports could hardly reach $ 0.25 billion.
Another misbalance in this respect is that
Pakistan imports about 1,000 items from China while the latters export-basket is limited to hardly 50 items. Pakistan exports items like seafood, cotton yarn, leather, marble, fruits, sports goods, rice, raw hides and vegetables. On the other hand,
China exports almost every thing available under the sun to Pakistan and that also at very low prices. Mass availability of these goods at low rates has pushed local industry out of competition.
Pakistans local industry alleges that the absence of government patronage and lack of supporting infrastructure, like energy, water, roads, has spurred import of cheap Chinese goods into Pakistan. Industrialists say China dumps a lot of goods into Pakistan but no action is taken for various reasons. The biggest of these is that Pakistan does not want to take even a symbolic step that harms friendly relations between the two, they add.
Complaints about dumping have to be filed with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which inquires into them.
"Dumping means export of goods by a country at prices lower than those at which these goods are being sold in the exporting countrys local market," says Tahir Fayyaz, a garment importer based in Karachi. He says such countries manufacture products in excess of their local demand to benefit from economies of scale and dispose off the surplus in countries where similar industry is in a stage of infancy or on a decline.
The countries dumping goods in other countries are not worried about the price at which they are exporting them as they earn sufficient revenues from collective sales. Tahir adds that many industrialists have shut down their units and turned to imports. "This is a hassle-free business where you do not have to tackle officials of dozens of departments, as is the case with industry," he says.
The question that arises here is how Pakistan can increase its share in mutual trade and boost its industrial sectors contribution to exports to China. Critics say Pakistan should not shy away from raising dumping issues with China.
However, this is something difficult, keeping in view the dependence of Pakistan on China in almost every field of life, ranging from education, technical assistance and engineering to defence, energy, and what not.
India, on the other hand, has still not signed free trade agreement with China and imposed anti-dumping import duties on yarn, fabric, nylon being imported from China. The country even has a Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) which functions under the Commerce Ministry. The fact that India has filed a record number of anti-dumping cases against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) also explains how protectionist the former is of its industry.
According to the WTO, a company can be charged with dumping if it exports a product at a price lower than what it normally charges in its own home market or if the import volume grows to an extent that leaves domestic manufacturers at a disadvantage.
Pakistans local industries have launched reports that call for taking up of this matter with WTO but so far nothing concrete has been done. For example,
a report prepared by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) reveals that due to the dumping of China clay crockery from China, the pottery industry of Pakistan has disappeared from centers like Gujranwala and Gujrat.
The report says out of a total of five units, four have closed their commercial operations. These are Prey China, Dada Bhoy, Pakpur, and Regal China while the last one -- Lone China -- is on the verge of collapse. It adds the price of imported Chinese crockery has gone down drastically during the last one year, despite the fact that there has been no significant change in the cost of inputs.
Another major objection of Pakistani industrialists is that the system of export refinancing by the Chinese government falls under the definition of dumping under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. Their claim is that Chinese exporters, who secure orders from foreign buyers, are given interest free loans equivalent to the amount of export orders. "Besides, different other subsidies like those in freight, etc, put other countries at a disadvantage," they say.
Despite all these contentious issue, there is no denying the fact that China is Pakistans major ally when it comes to strategic international alliances in the world.
But this must not translate into death of Pakistans local industry which gives employment and sustenance to millions of its citizens. In this scenario, Pakistan government must ensure that the matter is taken up with China in a friendly manner and a solution found.
