Pak, EC to hold consultations on February 23, 24

KARACHI: Pakistan and the European Commission (EC) will hold consultations on anti-dumping investigations on imports of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) from Pakistan on February 23-24, 2010 in Brussels.

PET - commonly known as plastic bottle material – is a key product exported to European Union (EU) apart from traditional items like textile and clothing and according to estimates, EU consumes around $200 million worth of PET from Pakistan, which is supplied by a company based only in Pakistan.

National Tariff Commission (NTC) Director General Khizar Hayat will be holding the consultation with EC on behalf of the government of Pakistan, according to sources privy to issue.

The EC started anti-dumping investigation into alleged cut-priced exports of PET to the EU from Pakistan along with Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

EC started probe in September last year and according to the commission, it would investigate complaints from the PET Committee of Plastics Europe alleging that imports of certain PET, originating in Iran, Pakistan and the UAE are being dumped and are thereby causing material injury to the EU industry.

The commission said the committee had evidence PET imports from these countries have increased overall in absolute terms and in terms of market share. Also, given the volumes and the low prices concerned, there has been a negative impact on the market share held and... prices charged by the EU industry, resulting in substantial adverse effects on its financial situation, causing significant job losses.

The commission also gathered company production costs and sales data from producers in Iran, Pakistan and the UAE, looking at trading information from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009.

According to officials in Ministry of Commerce, EC is particularly concerned about its domestic PET manufacturing industry, which allegedly suffered from the huge imported subsidised PET from Pakistan. As far as Pakistan PET is concerned, officials said, European PET manufactures contend that Pakistani PET is being subsidised, which makes it competitive in the European market and adversely impacts the competition in the market.

Officials said that Pakistan is hopeful to gain substantially from the coming talks on PET anti-dumping issues as the issue has been created merely on allegations just to avoid the competition with good quality Pakistani PET.

Also, on this critical movement of history when Pakistan is fighting against war on terror as front line ally and suffering economically, officials said that it would be prudent to wind up these investigations on positive note to help Pakistan economically.