LAHORE: The cement manufacturers in the country have claimed to pay Rs 189 billion taxes during the last four years.
All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) Chairman Sayeed Tariq Saigol, in a statement, said the tax contribution during 2012-13 was Rs39 billion, whereas during 2015-16 the contribution increased more than double ie approximately Rs83 billion.
“Though the industry posted growth in these years with dispatches rising to 38.87 million tons from 33.43 million tons in 2012-13, the growth in the government collection is mostly due to the increase in duties and taxes from Rs1,551 per ton to Rs2,492 per ton, a whopping increase of more than 60 percent,” he added.
He said that there is a strong need to cut down duties and taxes to bring down the prices and facilitate consumers which would also help industry to grow as it is playing a vital role in the development of the country. There is a strong growth in the cement dispatches albeit a continuous decline in exports over the last few years, he added.
Sayeed Tariq said the country exported 8.57 million tons of cement in 2012-13 which has gradually dropped about 46 percent to 5.87 million tons in 2015-16. However, the rise in local consumption helped the industry to stay afloat.
“The factors contributing to decline in exports include increase in fuel prices and other input cost, and the most damaging was the barriers erected by the countries we export to, such as anti-dumping duty imposed by South Africa to protect its local industry,” he said.
Moreover, to discourage imports, the tariff is around 19 percent in India including three percent education cess to promote education in the country, which makes it difficult to compete with other exporting countries which have lesser input cost, he added.
