Pakistan’s secondary copper and aluminium manufacturers and exporters have urged the government to avoid imposing duty on exports of these two metals. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the manufactures have so far in 2020 exported $700mn worth of copper ingots and $30mn worth of aluminium ingots to China under Free Trade Agreement, according to local media.
Exporters’ appeal comes as a response to Pakistani fan manufacturers’ plea for the imposition of an export duty on copper and aluminium ingots. The manufacturers said their export target for 2021 is $2,000mn for the two metals. China imports $40bn copper and aluminium ingots annually and Pakistan’s contribution is below a $1bn, they added.
The Chinese investors are also establishing the copper and aluminium ingots industry in Pakistan and any duty can hurt their investments, the reports said. The fan manufacturers export fans worth $24mn.
Ingot exporters called upon Abdul Razak Dawood Advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister warning him of a possible fallout if the government imposes a duty. They refuted claims made by the fan manufacturers that the rising exports are causing shortage of raw material. The exporters said they are exporting ingots since 2008 and no such difficulty was ever expressed by the Fan manufacturers’ Association. The government has already announced tax-related import duty exemption for raw material, said exporters.