LAHORE, Pakistan Tanners Association (Northern Zone) Chairman Azam Malik has demanded the customs authorities ensure early refunds of duty drawback claims to leather exporters in Punjab, especially in Lahore and Multan.
He told media here that exporters based in Lahore and Multan are badly hit by liquidity crisis due to non-refunding of their claims. Malik said that the association held numerous meetings with the collectors but of no use, citing that presently, an amount more than Rs 300 million is lying pending at Collectorate of Customs Preventive Lahore on account of duty drawback payable against consignments dispatched for exports from Lahore Airport during the past one year.
He explained that despite expensive cost of air freight, exporters of leather in Lahore prefer to dispatch leather consignments through airport to meet strict deadlines of customers abroad. At the same time, he said, all Lahore based leather manufacturing units are importing chemicals and spares from Karachi sea port and paying all duties and taxes in Karachi and this revenue should be considered for Lahore based units when fixing revenue targets.
