Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association has opposed the demand of Sind Alkali for imposing 20% regulatory duty on imports of soda ash.
According to a recent press release, former chairman of…
Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association has opposed the demand of Sind Alkali for imposing 20% regulatory duty on imports of soda ash. According to a recent press release, former chairman of the Association Sheikh Ghulam Ahmed Bhombal said the only two factories producing soda ash in the country are Sind Alkaly and ICI, and that they have increased the prices from Rs 313 per ton to Rs. 11,000 per ton, taking advantage of recent furnace oil price and devaluation of Pakistani rupee. He said that all raw materials of soda ash – purely Pakistani indigenous products – are not affected by petroleum nor by the dollar exchange rate. He added that as a result of restrictions on import of soda ash, more then 70 small and medium chemical process and sodium silicate and more then 50 small and medium glass industries, including Bangles Industries, have been closed. “Sindh Alkaly and ICI do not deserve protection as they are over 40 years of age and have made their own monopoly”, he added.