KARACHI: Pakistan has imported $190 million worth of bus and truck tyres in 2014 with the average unit price of $84, which is lowest than the raw material.
According to the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) report on Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), during 2014, the average per-unit price of a truck or bus tyre hovered around $142. By declaring half of the original value of the commodity, Pakistani importers saving millions in import duty, causing huge losses to the national exchequer.
Pakistan imports car tyres worth $18.3 million in 2014 at an average price of $23 per unit, down 35% from the average international price of a car tyre of about $35 per unit.
Import price of Afghanistan is one third of the international average import price of a car tyre. This scenario is equally disturbing because cheap tyres that Pakistan imports from Afghanistan under the APTTA enter Pakistani markets causing huge revenue losses.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan meet most of their tyre demand from Chinese tyre imports while the rest of the market share is divided in Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea.
