Export from Pakistan

Australia reduces customs duty

KARACHI: The Australian government has reduced the customs duty on the import of a number of products from Pakistan.

According to information communicated to the government of Pakistan on Saturday, the Australian government took the initiative recently, which would help in exporting various products from Pakistan to Australia.

The new customs duty slab has come into affect on the import of goods from Pakistan. “A further duty reduction to 5 percent would be effective from January 1, 2015,” a notification mentioned.

The details of customs duty reduction showed that duty has been reduced to 10 percent on the export of bedwear, towel, readymade garments, textile made-ups, knitwear and leather clothing.

In the case of cotton fabric, soccer ball, art silk, cotton yarn, tanned leather, footwear, the customs duty has been slashed to 5 percent.

Customs duty on rice, carpet, surgical instruments, guar gum and cotton bags or sacks has been brought down to zero.

Customs duty on leather gloves would vary between 5-10 percent and on cutlery, it would be applied between 0-5 percent.

The export of fresh vegetables and seafood from Pakistan to Australia is banned due to certain health and quarantine constraints.

However, this issue has been raised by the Pakistan trade mission in Australia and is also included in the agenda of Joint Trade Commission (JTC) and would be taken up in its meeting scheduled to be held on February 15-16, 2010 in Islamabad.

Officials commenting on the development said that it would definitely help the local export sector to boost their exports to Australia, however there are certain areas to be looked into for having quantum jumps in exports.

Though, the duty has been reduced on Pakistani exports to Australia, however it has never been so high in the past, officials pointed out and added that actual problem lies with the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that block the export from Pakistan to Australia.

The protective measures enjoyed by the agriculture sector in Australia in the form of subsidies and other hidden incentives make the export from other countries almost redundant to have competition in Australian market.

For instance, customs duty on rice import in Australia has never been high, however Pakistan was not able to export huge quantities to it because of NTBs, officials added.

Pakistan exports to Australia average $150 million worth of goods annually and it ranks among the top 40 countries, which consume major chunk of the export from Pakistan.

The details of customs duty reduction showed that duty has been reduced to 10 percent on the export of bedwear, towel, readymade garments, textile made-ups, knitwear and leather clothing. tanveer ahmed