PCMA calls for creating petrochemical complex

Says it can develop Pakistan’s downstream industry

FAISALABAD/ LAHORE: The Pakistan Chemical Manufacturers Association (PCMA) has urged the forthcoming government to include the industry in its first 100-day development plan.

It suggested forming a committee that would help tap offers of foreign investors in establishing the Crude-Naphtha Cracker Petrochemical Complex.

After investment offers from UAE and China, a proposition has also been received from South Korea’s group Lotte Chemical, said PCMA Secretary General Iqbal Kidwai. He appreciated the services of Adnan Iqbal, Commercial Counsellor in Embassy of Pakistan in Seoul, who had held meetings with the group to share information on the need of a petrochemical complex in Pakistan.



Kidwai said that the PCMA has been stressing the need for a petrochemical complex since its inception. In this regard, efforts have been made that have attracted the attention of local and foreign investors to invest in this project.

He was of the view that, once developed, the complex would boost the downstream chemical industry by producing hundreds of high value chemicals within Pakistan. This will gradually decrease the import of such chemicals with a single first-year impact of around $2 to 3 billion import substitution, he added.

Also speaking on the occasion, PCMA secretary general said that the chemical imports of Pakistan amount to over $14 billion, which is almost 17% of the total import bill and each year there is an average increase of 7% on this account. On the other hand, the global chemical industry, at present, is a $4 trillion enterprise, which impacts nearly every sector of the economy, he added.



Due to absence of even a single cracker complex, Pakistan’s downstream industry is dependent on imports, whereas India established its first cracker complex in 1992 and currently owns eight. Despite sanctions, Iran has set up seven.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2018.

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