Regulatory duty withdrawal urged

LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) president-elect Malik Tahir Javed has urged the government to save the auto part manufacturers who are in deep trouble because of adverse conditions, a statement said on Wednesday.

Auto part manufacturers are one of the largest job and revenue providers in the country, but various challenges, including high input cost and duties and taxes on import of raw materials have put their survival on stake, he added.

Javed demanded that regulatory duty on import of industrial steel materials by the auto parts sector should be withdrawn immediately, as these are not being produced or manufactured domestically.

The regulatory duty has been increased in 2016 from 15 percent to 35 percent, which heavily increased the input cost of the value-added sectors producing fine quality auto parts and engineering products, he added.