‘Imports hurting dairy sector’

FPCCI urges government to take steps to tackle the situation


Ppi June 14, 2017
PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said that the increasing import of milk and whey powders is slowly destroying the local dairy sector while contributing to rural poverty and playing havoc with people’s health.

The local dairy sector has become unattractive for investors, which has resulted in falling milk production due to closure of hundreds of farms, it said.

“The government should take immediate steps to reverse the situation; otherwise, Pakistan will become a milk-deficient country,” said FPCCI Regional Committee on Industries Chairman Atif Ikram Sheikh.

He said that the local dairy sector is going down since 2013 due to import of milk powder, which runs in millions. The country imports two to three million kilogramme of milk powder annually while imports in 2015 jumped to 44 million kilogrammes.

Milk sellers have started adding cheap milk powder in fresh milk while many industries using fresh milk have switched to imported dry milk, which has added to the problems of the local dairy sector, Sheikh observed.

“Turkey had imposed 180% duty on import of milk; therefore, Pakistan should also hike duty to a minimum of 100%,” suggested the chairman.

Local milk market should be regulated, adulteration should be discouraged and the public should know the difference between fresh milk and synthetic products, which are very damaging for babies, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2017.

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COMMENTS (1)

Abbas | 6 years ago | Reply People don't realize that European countries and the United States heavily subsidize their agriculture sector including dairy. That is the reason that they overproduce and the resulting surpluses are dumped into thrid world countries at below cost prices. Many countries on one hand have massive duties on import of milk, yet export vast quantities of milk to many countries such as Pakistan. Another aspect is the massive duty evasion being done either through Afghan Transit Trade or through Free Trade Deals Pakistan has with other nations. In the case of Maylasia, which is a huge importer of milk itself, milk powder is being brought into Pakistan duty free by misdeclaring it as Maylasian milk when in fact the real origin of the milk is Nethrerlands or New Zealand.
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