profit.com.pk

If at first you don’t succeed… Page 03

Tuesday, 08 May, 2012

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

PrESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari today gave as-sent to the Stock Exchanges (Corporatiza-tion, Demutualization and Integration) Act,2012 to further strengthen the country’s

stock markets, in a ceremony in the Presidency thatwas witnessed by among others by Dr. Abdul HafeezSheikh, Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs,Ms. Fauzia Wahab, Chairperson, NA Standing Com-mittee on Finance, Muhammad Ali, Chairman Securi-ties and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, ImtiazHaider, Commissioner SECP, Muneer Kamal, Chair-man, Karachi Stock Exchange, Muhammad rahidZahir, Chairman, Islamabad Stock Exchange, Mr.Nadeem Naqvi, Mian Ayaz Afzal, Mr. Aqeel KarimDhadhey, Mr. Ali Ansari, Ms. Musarat Jabeen, ImranInayat Butt, Secretary to President Malik Asif Hayatand other senior officials.

Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said thatthe Demutualization bill was earlier approved in ajoint session of the Parliament on March 27, 2012 andenacted into law by the President signing it today. Hesaid that the law requires the stock exchanges to be de-mutualized within 119 days of its promulgation in ac-cordance with timelines specified for completion ofvarious milestones involved in the demutualization ex-ercise. Giving background he said that at present thePakistani stock exchanges are operating as non-profitcompanies with a mutualized structure wherein themembers have the ownership as well as trading rights.This structure inherently creates conflict of interest asmembers predominantly control the affairs of thestock exchange which results in lack of transparencyin the operations of the stock exchange and compro-mises investors’ interest.

Also, due to lack of resources the stock exchangeshave not been able to grow to the expectations of in-vestors as trading activity is mostly concentrated inthree buildings of these exchanges with the dominantshare going to the Karachi Stock Exchange, he said.He said that the Corporatization and demutualizationof stock exchanges would entail converting the stockexchanges’ structure from non-profit, mutuallyowned organization to for-profit entities owned byshareholders. Demutualization would result in in-creased transparency at the stock exchanges andgreater balance between interests of various stake-holders by clear segregation of commercial and reg-ulatory functions and separation of trading rights and

ownership rights, he said.The Spokesperson said that demu-

tualization is a well-established globaltrend and almost all stock exchangesworldwide operate in demutualized setup. The enactment of this law will bringthe Pakistani capital market on par withother international jurisdictions likeIndia, Malaysia, Singapore, USA, UK,Germany, Australia, Hong Kong andTurkey among others, he said. Thenew law will help expand marketoutreach, attract new investors, im-prove liquidity and enable the stockexchange to attract internationalstrategic partners. Demutualizationwill also facilitate consolidation ofbrokers leading to financially strongentities, he said.

The development of this law de-picts the Governments commitmenttowards promoting development ofPakistani capital market and its trustreposed in the stock market for con-tinued growth of the economy.The Demutual-ization law pro-vides aframework for thecorporatization, de-mutualization and inte-gration of the stockexchanges and had been draftedafter consensus with all the stake-holders. Farhatullah Babar saidthat apart from demutualization ofstock exchanges, to make our capitalmarket vibrant the government is re-vamping the Capital Gain Tax regimewhereby calculation and deduction isbeing centralized and automatedwithin the existing parameters of theCGT. He said that the revampedregime would not only address issuesfaced by the capital market but wouldalso help in documenting the economythat would result in broadening the taxbase and ensuring 100% coverage of allthe taxable transactions in securitiesmarket while attracting foreign portfolioinvestment in the country.

ZARDARI’S DAY oUT

A day in life of Pakistan’s presidentg President signs into law new measures to strengthen stock market

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

PrESIDENT Asif AliZardari said Mondaythat the trade volume

between Pakistan and Japan isbelow the potential, whichshould be boosted byincreasing economic relationsof two sides. He was talking tothe Japanese Ambassador inPakistan Hiroshi Oe, whocalled on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr.During meeting mattersrelating to bilateral relationsand enhancing mutualcooperation in various sectorsparticularly promotion oftrade and investmentbetween the two countrieswere discussed.President

Zardari said that Japan hadalways been in the forefronts

whenever people of Pakistanfaced any difficult time. Hesaid that as Pakistan andJapan are celebrating60th anniversary of theirdiplomatic ties, so it isthe high time for thetwo countries to focuson broadening thescope of mutual

cooperation and toextend it to the areas of

trade, investment, energyand infrastructuredevelopment, fisheries anddairy sectors. ThePresident said Pakistanwas cognizant of theconstructive role of Japanin the global and Asianaffairs and it sees Japanas an important playerfor peace, progress,cooperation and stabilityin the world. He saidthat Pakistan with its

proven natural resources of186 billion tons of coal andhuge reserves of natural gasoffered great opportunities toJapanese investors to invest inthe energy and agriculturesectors in Pakistan. “We lookforward to Japanese assistancein market oriented capacitybuilding of Pakistanimanufacturers, growers anddesigners in terms of internallevel processing, packagingand designing standards”, headded. President Zardari alsoappreciated the Japaneseresponse in providing relief tothe flood victims in Pakistan aswell as its role at the forum ofFriends of DemocraticPakistan. Meanwhile, ZhangHongwei, Chairman OrientGroup of China, today calledon President Asif Ali Zardari atAiwan-e-Sadr. He wasaccompanied by Ms. ChristineFu, President United EnergyGroup (UEG), Mr. Song Yu,Vice President UEG, Mr. TariqKhamisani, President UEGPetroleum Pakistan, Mr. LinYang and Mr. Zhang Wei.Chinese Ambassador inPakistan Mr. Liu Jian was alsopresent.Senator Dr. AsimHussain, Petroleum Minister,Syed Naveed Qamar, FederalMinister for Water & Power,Mr. M. Salman Faruqui,Secretary General to thePresident, Spokesperson to thePresident Senator FarhatullahBabar, Pak Ambassador toChina Mr. Masood Khan andother senior officials werepresent from Pak side.Chairman Orient Groupbriefed the President about hiscompany’s business venturesin Pakistan.

PAk-JAPAN TRADE To ENhANCE: ZARDARI

LAHORE

APP

Atwo-day 2nd Aman Ki AshaEconomic Conferenceunder the theme of“Dividends” started at a

local hotel on Monday to discussways and means to improve andstrengthen relations betweenPakistan and India.The moot is a joint initiative of JangGroup Pakistan and The Times ofIndia in collaboration withConfederation of Indian Industry(CII), Pakistan Business Council(PBC), Trade Development AuthorityPakistan (TDAP) and National Bankof Pakistan.Addressing the moot, Indian HighCommissioner Sharat Shabarwal saidthat India wanted to build a

relationship of friendship andmutually beneficial cooperation withPakistan.He said that there was a keen desireon both sides to improve trade andeconomic links, bridge theinformation gap between businesscommunities and address eachother’s concerns. “A number ofbusiness delegations have travelledin both countries to bridge theinformation gap and dialoguebetween the two commerceministries has led to a number ofimportant steps,” he added.Shabarwal said the moot wouldenable businessmen of both sides todiscuss modalities to expand tradeand economic relations between thetwo countries, particularly in thelight of opportunities arisen as aresult of interaction between the

commerce ministries over the lastone year. The Indian high commissioner alsoappreciated the decision of thePakistan government to accord anMFN (Most Favoured Nation) statusto India, as well as to move from apositive list of imports from India toa negative list. “We hope that thenegative list will be phased out by theend of the year, as planned. The stepwill also pave the way for preferentialtrade between the countries underthe South Asian Free Trade AreaAgreement or (SAFTA),” hemaintained.He said that significant steps hadalso been taken to address concernsand apprehensions of businesscommunities on both sides, addingthat India and Pakistan also initialedthree agreements in areas of customscooperation, mutual recognition oftesting laboratories and redress oftrade grievances and they would be

signed and put into effect in comingweeks. Shabarwal said, “We will liketo carry the process of tradeliberalization forward in a manner tocreate a win-win situation for bothsides.” He added that in FebruaryIndia had supported approval of theEuropean Union trade concessionspackage for Pakistan by the WTOGeneral Council. “We are ready tocommence discussion on reducingthe size of sensitive lists underSAFTA. India has also agreed toForeign Direct Investment (FDI)from Pakistan for which necessaryprocedures and requirements arebeing formulated,” he maintained.“As a result of two meetings held lastyear, both sides’ interior ministrieswere able to finalize the draft of arevised visa agreemment, containing,inter alia, liberal provisions forbusiness visas. We hope it will besigned during a meeting of ourinterior/home secretaries in coming

weeks,” he added.He said the Wagha-Attari trade gatewas another mega achievement ofthe neighbouring countries thatwould boost the bilateral tradevolume. “I will like to mention inparticular the decision taken by thecommerce ministers earlier this yearto explore the opening of theMunabao-Khokhrapar route fortrade. Such land trade routes, besidesgiving freight advantage to goods ofboth countries, will also contributesignificantly to the economy of theregions on both sides of the border,“ he mentioned.The Indian High Commissioner saidthat India and Pakistan shouldtarget $ 12 billion trade within nextfive years, asserting, “Our growingeconomic agenda also includesfinalization of modalities ofelectricity trade between the two countries and trade inpetroleum products.”

Indian HC has officially lost it…PEDDLING UNREALISTIC NUMBERS

g ‘India, Pakistan should target $12b trade in five years’

PRO 08-05-2012_Layout 1 5/8/2012 2:26 AM Page 1

news02Tuesday, 08 May, 2012

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

THE National AccountsCommittee (NAC) will bemeeting again on Tuesdayto finalise the economic

data for the current fiscal year onthe basis of the old base of 1999-2000, as the earlier data finalisedby the committee on the basis ofnew base year of 2005-06 was re-jected by the government as it haddownward projected the GDPgrowth rate at 3.2 percent from theofficial claims of 4 percent for thecurrent fiscal year.

An official source said that thedata on the basis on old base yearwas being finalised and will be sub-mitted for the consideration of NACon Tuesday. The government antic-ipates that the GDP based on exist-ing system of national account onbase year of 1999-2000 will bearound 4 percent.

For the first time in country’shistory, the government on May 4nullified the economic data finalisedby the highest forum, NAC on April26 and ordered the Pakistan Bureauof Statistics (PBS) to reassess theeconomic figures on the basis on theold base of 1999-2000.

NAC on April 26 approved GDPgrowth figure of 3.2 percent on thebasis of market price after rebasing

of GDP by fixing 2005-06 as baseyear. NAC, after rebasing, hadpulled out about rs 2200-2500 bil-lion from size of economy owing towhich GDP size shrank to rs 18.50trillion from rs 21 trillion mainlybecause of the contraction of man-ufacturing, services and financialand insurance sectors.

The governing council of PBShas refused to validate the re-writ-ing of economic history of thecountry from 2005-06 onward say-ing PBS has taken the major initia-tive in violation of the laid downprocedure. Under the law, PBS wasbound to take the approval fromthe council, but its secretary did nottake the governing council intoconfidence prior to taking themajor and important initiative ofrebasing the economy.

From the available data of lasteight to nine months, NAC had esti-mated the provisional growth of 3.2percent for the current fiscal year, ascompared to growth of 3 percentlast fiscal year. The increase hasbeen made possible by growth inagriculture sector by 3.6 percent,while industrial sector grew by 3.4percent and services sector by 2.1percent. The government has earlierprojected the GDP growth of 4.2percent but later on revised it to 3.6percent for the current fiscal year.

In the agriculture sector the

crops registered an increase of 3percent, livestock 4.1 percent,forestry 4.1 percent and fishing 1.8percent. The mining and quarryingcategory in industrial sector in-creased by 1.7 percent, manufactur-ing 2.4 percent, construction 2.8percent and energy by 14.3 percent.In the services sector, transport andcommunication increased by 3.2percent, wholesale and retail trade2.1 percent, financial and insurancedeclined by 11 percent, ownershipand dwellings 3.4 percent, publicadministration and defence by 3.4percent, and social and public serv-ices by 3.4 percent. About the de-cline in financial and insurance, PBSexplained that it was calculated onconstant term but on current pricesthey figure might be in positive. Thiswas main issue of concern for theMinistry of Finance which askedPBS to recalculate growth in finan-cial and insurance sector.

The members of the governingcouncil raised many concerns re-garding the methodology, the qual-ity of primary data base on varioussectors of the economy, analyticalframework and the restructuringsteps taken by PBS to adjust theGDP of the past 10 years. It directedthe Statistics Division to provide theNational Accounts on the old baseas well as to facilitate comparisonwith the new base.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

KISAN Board Pakistan (KBP) has startedpreparing a ‘white paper’ on corruption andirregularities being done by the officials of

the provincial departments involved in the on-goingwheat procurement drive. This was disclosed at anemergent meeting of the ‘wheat committee’ of theBoard with KBP Central President Sardar ZafarHussein Khan in the chair, said KBP spokesmanhere on Monday. The meeting alleged that farmerswere facing lot of difficulties and hardships indisposing off their produce to the provincial fooddepartment in a smooth manner due to poor andwrong policy devised by the food, revenuedepartments and districts administration. Themeeting alleged that fake records had beenprepared by the provincial revenue department,there were long queues to get gunny bags andgrowers had to reach the center early in the

morning but those responsible for distribution ofbags were not arriving at the center in time. It saidthere was also information that procurementcenters were changed over night and those in powerhad procurement centers near their homes andcommon growers were facing difficulties in reachingthese centers. The meeting also alleged that listsprepared by the revenue department was onlycarrying names of influential and middle men whilereal grower had been ignored in it. The meeting saidthat the food department announced procurementdate as May 05, 2012 and when growers reached theprocurement centers they were told that nowprocurement would start from May 08, 2012.Participants of the meting urged the provincialgovernment to hold an enquiry in to irregularitiesand poor arrangements made by the provincialdepartments and districts administration. They saidthat growers reaching the procurement centersshould be treated with dignity and respect and it isensured that procurement should be transparent.

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf raza Gilani has said thatgovernment would provide relief to the common manin the upcoming budget. He was talking to severalpersonalities including Governor KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Barrister Masood Kausar, Chief Minis-

ter KP, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Chief MinisterBaluchistan, Nawab Aslam raeesani, Acting PrimeMinister of AJK, Chaudhary Muhammad Yasin andSpecial Assistant to the Prime Minister Begum Shah-

naz Wazir Ali that called on him at PM’s Secretariat onMonday. PM said that the law and order situation all

over the country especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Baluchistan and FATA is not up to the mark but

government is taking every measure for im-proving it. The Acting Prime Minister of

AJK said that the announcementby the Prime Minister SyedYusuf raza Gilani of KohalaMuzaffarabad Highway andInternational Airport at Mir-pur have been widely wel-comed by the people because

it would result the chang-ing the fate of AJK.

Ladies and gentlemen, say helloto the corruption ‘whitepaper’

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THOUGH, cement sales in domestic marketposted fifth straight month of increase ascompared to last year, the industry is still passingthrough trying times as its exports registered

third consecutive month of decline while its capacityutilisation is at its lowest since 2002-03. A spokesman ofthe All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association statedthis while discussing performance of the cement industryduring first ten months of the current fiscal. He said thatthe total cement dispatches up till April 2012 were 26.643million tons which is 3.31 percent higher than dispatchesduring the corresponding period of last fiscal. He saiddomestic sales during this period increased by 8.51 percentbut exports registered a decline of 8.91 percent. He saidperformance of North and South based mills depicteddifferent trends both in domestic sales and exports. He saidlocal sales of the North based mills increased by 7.77percent to 15.928 million tons while the South based millsregistered higher domestic consumption by 11.81 percent to3.701 million tons. In exports, however, the mills in theNorth suffered comparatively less decline than in the South.The North based mills exported 5.087 million tons ofcement posting a decline of 6.23 percent over exports madeduring the same period last year. The exports of Southbased mills declined by 15.29 percent to 1.928 million tons.Among the export markets, the Afghanistan market

remained relatively stable as exports declined nominally by0.15 percent to 3.778 million tons. Exports to Indiaincreased by 15.19 percent to slightly over half million tons.This includes exports by sea, as well as, through Wahgaborder. Exports to other destinations through sea howeverdecreased by 16.96 percent to 2.699 million ton. Cementindustry sources says that cement is one the majorcommodities that is abundantly available in Pakistan andcan be exported to India through the land route. Despite tallclaims to increase bilateral trade, the respectivegovernments failed to remove non-tariff barriers imposedon Pakistani products. Industry leaders pointed out thatPakistani exporters were facing multiple hurdles in smoothexport to India. They indicated that only 10 wheeler trucksfrom Pakistan are allowed to cross the border andmaximum weight may not be more than 40 tons per truck.Unfortunately, most of the available transportation forcement has a loading capacity of more than 40 tons.Availability of 10 wheeler trucks with a loading capacityupto 40 tons for cement is limited; resulting in the cementindustry being unable to export its surplus capacity. Thereis only one scanner installed at the new gate at Wahgaborder resulting in long queues creating hurdles and delayfor Pakistani exports to India. The Pakistani exporters havedemanded of the government to look into the matter andallow trucks with a loading capacity upto 80 tons instead of40 tons. “The Pakistani exporters should also be providedall necessary facilities at the border points so that theycould easily clear their consignments”.

Let’s breath a sigh of relief…

ISLAMABAD

APP

THE government, in view of meetingincreasing power demand in the country,is working on power generation projects of

around 2500 MW from Thar coal reserves. Givingpresent status of power generation projects fromThar Coal, an official on Monday said one of themajor initiatives of present government was toenter into a joint venture with leading industrialgroup - Engro Group (40 percent SindhGovernment and 60 percent Engro) for Block-IIof Thar coal fields. The official said the companyplans to develop an open pit mine of 6.5 millionton per annum capacity and power generation of1200 MW at the cost of US $ three billion. Hesaid bankable feasibility has been completed inAugust 2010 and this flagship project ofGovernment of Sindh is part of the projects, takenup by Pakistan-China Joint Energy WorkingGroup (JEWG). Chinese financial institutions arewilling to finance this project provided they get agreen signal from the government of China. Next

meeting of JEWG is scheduled to be held thisweek at the capital. The second project is Block-VI Oracle Coal fields PLC United Kingdom forwhich detailed feasibility study has beencompleted and approved by Technical Committeeof Sindh Coal Authority. The official said theyplanned to construct five million ton per annummine and 300 MW Power Plant in first phase.Oracle has also entered into agreement withKarachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC)for power plant. The pre-development groundwork for mine will commence this month andmine development would begin by first quarterof 2013. The third project is Block-I: Sino-Sindh resources (Pvt) Limited. Block-I of TharCoal field was allocated to Sino-Sindhresources, a subsidiary of Global Mining ofChina through International CompetitiveBidding last year. They have completed thedetailed feasibility study recently. Sino-Sindhintend to construct 10 million ton per annummine and 900 MW power plant in first phaseby 2015. The official said the fourth project isBlock-V Underground Coal GasificationProject. Planning Commission approved theproject and engaged renowned scientist, Dr.Samar Mubarakmand to develop a localtechnology and execute the pilot project. Hesaid the project is for production of Syngasfrom Thar. Based on Syngas Power Plant of 100MW can be established and added an amountof rs. 984.93 million has already been releasedfor production and purification of Syngas. Thetest burn was ignited few months back. Syngasis being coming out from underground cavitycreated by drilling, casing, cementation andreverse combustion. As decided by TCEB, aninternational EOI for establishing 100 MW, isbeing floated to attract foreign investment.

Continuous failure to cement exports 2.5kMW!ThAR TALECoNCRETE CoNCERNS

g Power generation projectsfrom Thar coal to produce2,500MW

g Cement exports continue to cling on to their downward spiralg Local dispatch increased by 3.3 percent

MASTER STATISTICIANS

WhAT’S UP WITh kBP?

PREMIER PRoMISES

NAC to meet again today for reassessing GDP

If at firstyou don’tsucceed…

g PM Gillani assures relief in budget

PRO 08-05-2012_Layout 1 5/8/2012 2:26 AM Page 2

news

Tuesday, 08 May, 2012

03

hearing regarding tariff protection to juteyarn, twine on 28thISLAMABAD: The National Tariff Commission (NTC) willorganize a public hearing regarding Tariff protection to theIndigenous Industry Manufacturing Jute Yarn and Twine onthe issue on May 28, at 11.00 a.m. here in the Committeeroom of National Tariff Commission, 11th Floor, State LifeBuilding No. 5, Blue Area. A statement of the NTC issuedhere on Monday, said that Pakistan Jute Mills Association(PJMA) applied National Tariff Commission (NTC) for tariffprotection to the domestic industry of jute yarn and jutetwines, falling under PCT main heading No. 7307. The asso-ciation requested NTC to enhance present customs duty of10% to 25% on import of jute yarn and jute twines to protectthe domestic industry. Applicant claimed this enhancementof customs duty on the following grounds:- Yarns and twinesare made from both jute and sisal plants and are of same na-ture and use for similar purposes. The product, yarn andtwines of jute are imported at 10% CD while yarn and twinesof sisal are imported at 25% CD. The applicant therefore,taking plea that the product, yarn and twines of jute may beimposed 25% CD instead of present 10% to bring uniformityin both the products and protect the domestic jute industryagainst cheaper imports of yarn and twines. The NTC thusinitiated the inquiry on request of the association and invitesviews comments and other information, relevant and helpfulin this study from all interested parties having business ofjute yarns and jute twines. APP

TIkA, JIkA delegation visit MPTTISLAMABAD: A joint delegation of experts from Turkish In-ternational Cooperation Agency (TIKA) and Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JIKA) visited Ministry of Professional andTechnical Training and met with Federal Secretary QamarZaman Chaudhary. Tika’s Chief Programme Coordinator ofTurkish Ministry of Education, Kenan Uysal offered the Min-istry, the training programme in Industrial Automation and forthis purpose initially they have asked ten teachers from Pakistanwhom they would train in Turkey. Federal Secretary welcomethem for this joint venture to increase Pakistan expertise in therelated field and told that he would collaborate with all fourprovinces and federating units to select the teachers at merit.JICA’s Chief Programme Coordinator Takujiro also offered hercountry’s cooperation for developing curriculum for NAVTTCthat is policy formulating institute for vocational and technicaltraining in the country. Federal Secretary Qamar Zamanchaudhry also invited the attention of TIKA and JICA to visitNational Centre for rural Development (NCrD) and explorenew avenues for green Technology at which already United Na-tion Industrial Development Organization is working. FederalSecretary told the joint delegation that first time the Govern-ment of Pakistan has made this focal Ministry to bring all theOrganizations of Vocational and Technical Training, in thecountry to bring under the umbrella of the Ministry. Joint Del-egation will also visit the National Training Bureau to increasethe training capacities of the country. NNI

BRIEF CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

UniLever Pak Ltd 7042.00 7394.10 7025.00 7394.10 352.10 140Unilever Food 2712.08 2847.68 2847.68 2847.68 135.60 15Rafhan MaizeSPOT 2650.00 2782.00 2698.00 2764.38 114.38 72Colgate Palmolive 820.00 861.00 820.00 861.00 41.00 303Wyeth Pak Limited 778.34 800.00 785.00 800.00 21.66 269

Major Losers

Nestle Pakistan Ltd. 4331.69 4450.00 4199.00 4218.88 -112.81 3,564Island Textile 234.56 222.84 222.84 222.84 -11.72 356Indus Motor Company 305.00 297.05 296.00 296.51 -8.49 2,801Sapphire Textile 120.27 114.60 114.55 114.55 -5.72 43,000Pak Oilfields 394.75 399.00 389.11 391.15 -3.60 566,035

Volume Leaders

P.T.C.L.A 15.34 16.25 15.50 16.12 0.78 34,556,963D.G.K.Cement 44.38 46.59 44.70 46.59 2.21 19,601,267Telecard Limited 2.20 2.50 2.15 2.19 -0.01 15,079,443Jah.Sidd. Co. 16.02 16.69 15.85 16.28 0.26 14,182,549Engro Corporation 104.47 109.27 104.85 108.07 3.60 11,111,247

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.7940UK Pound 146.6233Japanese Yen 1.1373Euro 118.1957

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 91.10 91.80Euro 118.43 119.44Great Britain Pound 146.84 148.06Japanese Yen 1.1304 1.1397Canadian Dollar 90.99 92.25Hong Kong Dollar 11.58 11.75UAE Dirham 24.74 24.92Saudi Riyal 24.24 24.41Australian Dollar 92.25 94.48

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THE Lahore Chamber ofCommerce and Industryhas expressed deep con-cern over awful prolonged

load shedding and demanded of thegovernment to seriously solve theenergy crises that are hitting all sec-tors of economy including trade, in-dustry and agriculture.

In a press statement issued hereMonday, The LCCI President IrfanQaiser Sheikh said that the privatesector was engine of the growth andin the developed countries it is facil-itated to the maximum but in Pak-istan circumstances is quitedifferent. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat LCCI has repeatedly warnedthe government of massive lay-offsand industrial closures if it fails toimmediately stop power outages butpeople sitting on the helm of the af-fairs are playing the role of silent

spectators. The LCCI President5said that government would not beable to control the situation trig-gered by the demonstrations andstrikes called by the angry industrialworkers against their retrench-ments as a result of these power out-ages. “How the government wouldestablish its writ and from where itwould collect revenues to run itsday-to-day affairs when the indus-trial wheel is coming to a grindinghalt.” The LCCI President said thatthe government should understandthat economic well being is a mustfor democracy. Unemployment,price-hikes, industrial closures al-ways gives birth to lawlessness andanarchy. Therefore, the governmentshould understand the ground real-ities and reset its priorities regard-ing provision of electricity to theindustry. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat the industry needs continuoussupply of electricity to keep theunits operational and to complete

the export orders well within thegiven timeframe but only because ofthe shortage of electricity the ex-ports are not up to the mark.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said thatPakistan had already lost a numberof global markets and the newpower cuts would further aggravatethe situation. The LCCI Presidentsaid that cheaper and uninterruptedpower supply is only way to achieveeconomic targets set for the year2012-13 but neither the governmentis sharing its future plans to this re-gard nor paying any heed to the dif-ficulties being faced by the tradeand industry. Irfan Qaiser Sheikhsaid that it is astonishing that on theone hand the government circleswere talking of economic stability in2012 while on the other hand theywere not sharing any kind ofroadmap to achieve this goal.

The LCCI President also feareda surge in street crimes, saying thatlaw and order situation is bound toaggravate in the coming days as re-peated power outages in the indus-trial estates is jacking up the graph

of unemployment particularly hit-ting the daily wagers hard.

He said that the most of indus-trial units had already reduced theirworking to single six-hour shiftfrom the previous three shifts sys-tem. This had led to increased levelof raw-material wastage leavingproduction process non-profitable.

Now the leading industrialunits were experiencing losses de-spite being managed profession-ally. The crisis in industrial sectoris not only causing flight of capitaland relocation of industrial unitsto the countries like Bangladeshand Malaysia but had also reducedgovernment revenues drastically.He said that a similar situation haderupted about two years ago butthat was resolved with the help ofthe business community who lenta lot of input in developing a viableload management plan. The LCCIPresident urged the President andPrime Minister to take notice ofthis grave situation and actpromptly to save industrial and so-cial fabric of the country.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Anew research has identified 2.7 billion low-income consumers in developing countriesas the global dairy industry’s next big

growth opportunity due to an expected rise inprosperity, purchasing power and desire for pack-aged liquid dairy products (LDP).

Study shows that consumption by low-incomeconsumers in developing markets is forecast to in-crease from about 70 billion litres in 2011 to al-most 80 billion litres in 2014, according to theDairy Index, which tracks worldwide facts, figuresand trends in the global dairy industry. Many ofthese consumers are expected to switch in comingyears from drinking loose milk to packaged milk.

The study was conducted by the Tetra Pak, theworld’s leading food processing and packagingcompany. Tetra Pak President and CEO Dennis

Jönsson said, “Low-income consumers representone of the biggest growth opportunities for thedairy industry. The key to tomorrow’s success isreaching these consumers today,” he maintained..“They make up almost 40 percent of the world’spopulation and live in economies driving our indus-try’s growth and they are growing more affluent.”

These low-income consumers live on rs180 tors750 a day and are virtually untapped by today’sdairy processors. Called Deeper in the Pyramid(DiP) consumers by Tetra Pak, they make upabout 50% of developing countries’ populationand consume 38 percent of LDP in developingcountries. The Tetra Pak research focused on Pak-istan, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Kenya, whichtogether account for more than 76 percent of LDPconsumption by DiP consumers in developingcountries. Many DiP consumers are expected togrow in affluence, shifting from low to middle in-comes by the end of the decade, boosting theirpurchasing power and the range of products theybuy. As they gain the increase in spending poweralong with greater awareness of food safety and aneed for convenient, ready-to- drink solutions isexpected to increase the demand for packagedproducts. “Today’s low-income consumers are to-morrow’s middle class,” said Azhar Ali Syed, Man-aging Director Tetra Pak Pakistan, noting “this isa golden opportunity for dairy processors to culti-vate consumer loyalty among a new generation ofdairy consumers in developing countries such asPakistan.” Tapping into this market is not withoutits challenges, according to the report. Tetra Pakhas identified three key challenges for dairyprocessors seeking to reach consumers in thisgrowth market. They need to make productswhich are affordable, available and attractive toconsumers on limited incomes. That means dairyprocessors must produce healthy, safe and nutri-tious packaged dairy products without adding un-sustainable costs. They must also make themavailable in small traditional stores in remoterural areas or congested cities where low incomeconsumers shop.

ICCI follows LCCI’s leadISLAMABAD

APP

ISLAMABAD Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (ICCI) has signed an agreementwith an event management company to

organize an Industrial Expo in September thisyear in the Federal Capital titled ‘Expo 2012’ toshowcase the country’s industrial products andpromote exports. A Memorandum of Under-standing signing ceremony was held at Cham-ber house, in which it was decided that theappointed event management company willmanage all the activities of industrial expo. Theinitiative is aimed at promoting a soft image ofthe country and give boost to trade and exports.Foreign delegations from many countrieswould also be invited to Expo 2012. Moreover,in order to introduce Pakistani products in in-ternational market, the Expo Committee ofICCI would organize exhibition of Pakistaniproducts in foreign countries. President ICCIYassar Sakhi Butt said that Expo 2012 wouldbe a landmark initiative in accelerating eco-nomic activities as it would provide an idealplatform where the industrialists of Pakistanwould put up stalls and showcase the potentialof their products to local and international vis-itors. Munawar Mughal, Chairman, ICCI Exhi-bition Committee said that Expo 2012 andShopping Festivals would provide industrialistsand traders good opportunities of promotingbusiness activities and increasing trade & ex-ports. ICCI is also planning to organize shop-ping festivals in commercial centers ofIslamabad on the pattern of Dubai ShoppingFestival to accelerate business activities andprovide customers an opportunity to buy qual-ity products at affordable prices.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

BUSINESS community has urged thegovernment to ensure maximumfacilities for the industrial workers asthey are the force keep moving the

industrial wheel. Their prosperity would givestrength to the trade, industry and economy. In a press statement issued here Monday,Chairman Lahore Township IndustriesAssociation Iftikhar Bashir and Chairman AutoParts Manufacturers & Exporters AssociationTahir Javed Malik said that though increase inminimums wages of labours by the PrimeMinister Yousuf raza Gilani and Chief Minister

Mian Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif wereappreciable initiatives of the federal andprovincial governments but they have to evolve along-term strategy to resolve all the problemsfaced by the workers. They said that a facilitypackage should be announced for the workersand labourers as they have rendered a lotsacrifices. They said that the concept of industrialand agricultural development was incompletewithout contribution of labourers and industrialworkers. They said that the global strides inindustry and agriculture are owed to the hardwork of labourers and farmers. They said thatgovernment should keep it in mind that secret ofany country’s development lies in the value ofhard work and its human resources. That country

could not develop that does not address the basicneeds of its working class. They said thatgovernment should solve the issues being facedby the industry as the industrial sector was mainsource of earning of the industrial worker and itsprogress and prosperity would ultimately makethe workers wealthy. They said that industrialsector was facing more than 12 hours loadshedding in a day and industrial wheel is stagnantwhile high mark-up rates and deteriorating lawand order situation adding fuel to the fire.Government should ensure provision of cheapand sufficient electricity for the industrial sectorand also resolve the other issue so thatindustrialist could play their due role for thewealth of their workers.

ANoThER RAMBo MoMENT

DAIRY DIARIESChAMBER CoNNECTIoN

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‘Workers are the force that manoeuvre the industrial wheel’

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