ISLAMABAD: Poultry Association of Pakistan has demanded that locally produced feed contents should be sales tax free and chicken vaccines need to be allowed at zero import duty. A delegation from the Poultry Association of Pakistan called on Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production Mr.Abdul Razak Dawood to discuss the performance of the poultry sector ,its potential its main issue and how it can be made more efficient and competitive.
During the meeting, the association members emphasised that the national and international standards compliance of the chicken products is making Pakistan competitive in the standard conscious world. The Association requested that locally produced feed contents should be sales tax free. It will reduce feed cost making the sector more competitive.
They highlighted that chicken vaccines that are important for this sector’s growth need to be allowed at zero import duty. The advisor appreciated the performance of the Poultry sector. He stated that the poultry association/producers need to be more aggressive in market penetration in the region. Pakistan need to capitalize on the Halal market. He assured the Association that their proposals related to Tariff ,taxation and facilitation would be analysed and considered for implementation for the growth of this sector. The Advisor highlighted that major food players like Cargill are enhancing their presence in the Pakistani market and our poultry players need to capitalize on it. Cargill, the global agro giant, has pledged to invest more than US$200 million in the next three-to-five years in Pakistan. Commercial Poultry in Pakistan was established in 1962. It is one of the largest agro based segment of Pakistan having an investment of more than Rs750 billion.
Poultry industry generates employment and provides source of income to more than 1.5 million people of Pakistan directly & indirectly. There are over 15000 poultry farms spread deep into the rural areas across the country. Capacity of farms range from 5,000 to 500,000 broilers. Annually Pakistan is producing around 18,000 million table eggs and over 2,250 million kilo grams chicken meat. It shows that there is huge potential for the poultry sector to cater domestic and export sector. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry& Production and Investment Mr.Abdul Razak Dawood apprised the delegation about the recent initiatives of the current government to improve trade and investment regime and business environment. He shared the business friendly vision of the government that would stimulate economic growth and expected to put exports on upward trajectory.
