Chancellor Angela Merkel pledges to do everything to prevent EC trade duties hitting Chinese solar panel companies.

Germany has come out in support of China as a trade dispute over the sale of solar cells and wireless equipment in Europe continues.

German economy minister Philipp Roesler said on Monday that Germany rejected proposals from the European Commission to impose heavy trade duties on China's sales of solar panels in Europe.

"There is, from our point of view, no longer a need for penalties and therefore Germany today after the expiry of the deadline... voted 'no'," Roesler said in a speech attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

He added that Berlin had asked the EC to extend its deadline until Monday morning because Germany wanted to have the chance to "speak with our friends or partners".

"We are against protectionist measures, for open markets and fair competition," Roesler said ahead of a lunch with Li, on the final day of his visit to Germany, by far China's biggest European trading partner.

Li welcomed Germany's call for more time, saying it was because Berlin "wanted to hear" China's stance. "This position, that is what binds China with Germany and earns my appreciation," he said.

The EC accuses Chinese firms of selling solar panels at below cost in Europe, a practise known as "dumping", and plans to impose heavy trade duties on the country, making it far harder for China to gain market share.

The duties, averaging 47 percent, will come into force from June 6 for a trial period and could be withdrawn if both sides can reach a negotiated settlement.

Roesler's speech comes after a pledge by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday that Germany would do everything it could to prevent the trade dispute from escalating to the point where the EC imposed the import duties.

"I will, as head of the government, advocate that we, at the European level, as quickly as possible have intensive discussions with the Chinese side on the questions at issue," Merkel told a joint news conference with Li.

China has denied accusations of dumping and Li said he "resolutely" rejected the EU's plans to impose taxes on solar panels as well as to probe the country's telecom products.

He said the move would not only threaten jobs in China but affect the interests of European companies, consumers and industry and called for dialogue to resolve the disputes.

A survey conducted by Reuters indicates that the majority of EU countries oppose the levies, which were proposed by the EU's trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht.

'Balanced relationship'

Fearful of losing business in China, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands are among at least 14 member states who oppose the sanctions according to the news agency.

France and Italy are leading a group of countries who say De Gucht is right to go ahead with sanctions, arguing that China's rapid rise in solar panel output to more than the world's entire demand could not have happened without illegal state support.

"We want to see a balanced relationship between China and the European Union," said French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg.

"Countries that use protectionism, and China is one of them, should accept reciprocal rules."

The new premier also said on Monday that his government wants to attract foreign companies and is willing to undertake reforms to promote investment.

The continuing EU dispute has not prevented China signing a memorandum of understanding for a free trade agreement with Switzerland during a visit to Geneva on Friday.

Source: Aljazeera

ISLAMABAD: The summary for the revision of petroleum products’ prices has been prepared, which would be sent to the ministry of petroleum on May 30, Geo News reported on Monday.

Sources said that the petrol price hike by Rs1.50 and a cut in diesel price by Rs2.00 have been proposed in the prepared summary.

OGRA sources said that kerosene price cut expected by paisa 15 per litre, while light diesel price likely to go up by paisa 5 and HOBC by paisa 50 per litre.

Petroleum products’ new prices would be effective from June 1.

KARACHI: Ironically, the largest sty in the world is located in the land of the pure. In fact it is in Karachi, and is known as the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE). It is an industrial estate home to over 3,000 industries, shops and warehouses. SITE is managed by a quasi-government organisation called SITE Ltd, while its ‘tenants’ are represented by the SITE Association of Industry.

But why, you may ask, is this estate (which contributes approximately 28% to the nation’s treasury, mind you) dubbed a mere ‘sty’?

The answer lies in a of this 4,500-acre estate.

I once wrote a satirical letter to the editor that the US was looking for Osama bin Laden (OBL) in all the wrong places. OBL was probably hiding in SITE all along, I said, because the estate looked so much like a place like Tora Bora would. Unfortunately, today it is not even fit to be compared to that.


The 4,500-acre estate has been turned into a cesspool of filth and violence. PHOTO: EXPRESS

From the moment you pass through one of SITE’s many entry points – be it from Banaras Colony, or from Mauripur Road, or from Nazimabad, or from Metroville – till the time you leave the estate, you would undoubtedly agree that SITE is a rather ugly sight. The infrastructure has totally collapsed and roads are full of potholes, drowned in stagnant water and so bumpy that motorcyclists find it hard to handle their vehicles.

Industrialists who traverse these roads daily dread bringing their new cars to this filthy place. Commuters travelling on buses usually sit on the roof, performing acrobatic feats in an attempt to save themselves from falling off. The worst nightmare is travelling on the side roads or lanes. These are akin to the rocky and steep mountains one may find in Balochistan or Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

SITE is blatantly encroached on by whoever pays the piper. Makeshift huts are found on every corner: these shops sell food, betel leaves, oil, and just about everything else. Even the drains are encroached. Janitorial staff is seldom seen in the area. The whole estate is filled with unpicked garbage that, at times, spills over onto the roads and lanes. Political slogans, threats from ethno-religious political elements, remedies for male impotence and haemorrhoids and advertisements for educational institutions can be found sprayed rudely on nearly every wall in the area: even obelisks, billboards and curb stones have not been spared by aspiring graffiti artists.
Things become all the more difficult and frustrating when petty criminals start staking out the dilapidated roads to hunt the vehicles which slow down. They snatch cell phones and wallets conveniently, confidently and shamelessly.


The 4,500-acre estate has been turned into a cesspool of filth and violence. PHOTO: HTTP://WWW.SITE.COM.PK

The administrators of the estate rarely leave their offices. However, we are repeatedly reassured that the concerned minister will regularly visit SITE Ltd. Why? Who knows. But the sad fact is that SITE has crumbled and is probably beyond repair. I have to ask, what happened to the millions in development allocation for the estate? Where have the funds gone?



The 4,500-acre estate has been turned into a cesspool of filth and violence. PHOTO: ONLINE

The SITE Association of Industry is no more a strong body. It has no voice, where once it was called the ‘voice of industry’. The Association leadership and senior members (including me) are concentrating more on the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The other industrialists and traders operating in SITE have accepted that it is better to be quiet and, when needed, pay bribes and get things done. After all, there is no other option left.

Hashim B Sayeed, former chairman and a founder of the SITE Association of Industry, once lost his calm and, with disdain and scorn in his voice, termed SITE a “pigsty”. How very right he was!

The writer is an industrialist and a businessman active on various local and international business forums
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2013.

LAHORE: Fertiliser manufacturers have come up with a long-term plan to invest $100 million in the development of dedicated lower British thermal unit gas fields – which can ensure sustainable supplies of raw material (feedstock) for urea manufacturing process, said Shahab Khawaja, executive director of Fertilizer Manufacturers Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) on Wednesday

The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL)-based fertiliser plants will invest $100 million for the development of the fields, which will ensure better gas supply to fertiliser plants to get better production from local plants instead of spending millions of dollars on costly imported urea.

The fertiliser sector is deprived of gas since April 2010 and one of the worst affected sectors of the economy. The resultant shortage and high prices of urea have been damaging the rural economy over the last few years.

The SNGPL-based plants – being large scale units – are now at the verge of closure with over 100 billions of rupees of payable bank loans. The long-term arrangement is a win-win situation for all stakeholders since fertiliser plants upon receiving the regular gas from different small fields will provide farmers with cheaper local urea and gas companies will be selling gas to customers at low rates, he said.

Khawajz said that with the new arrangement SNGPL-based fertiliser plants would receive gas from various small gas fields.

He added that gas utilities had to provide fertiliser plants with gas as per the legal agreements.

He said that the decision to supply gas to fertiliser industry through dedicated small fields was in line with the strategy to lessen burden from the SNGPL network and ensure continuous supply to general and industrial consumers in the country.

This decision has been taken at relevant forum of the government after detailed deliberations from all the concerned stakeholders in the larger interest of the country, which is an agriculture economy.

Agriculture contributes around 24 percent to gross domestic product of Pakistan and it also provides raw materials to all the major industries of Pakistan – that include textile and sugar.

He said that successful implementation of the plan would lead to self sufficiency in fertiliser production and save half a billion dollar foreign exchange and Rs20 billion in subsidies given on one million tons of urea import.

The arrangement is beneficial for both the Sui companies since it will save 240 million million standard cubic feet per day of gas allocated to four fertiliser plants under existing gas sales agreements with SNGPL.

He said that fertiliser plants would also pay a higher gas price than the gas price available to them under the existing GSAs, and would also have to incur significant additional investment for the smooth transportation of gas from respective gas fields to their plants. In the past, despite guaranteed contracts with the fertiliser industry, gas was diverted from fertiliser companies to other sectors.

However, with the implementation of this arrangement, certainty of gas supplies to the fertiliser sector would be ensured, he believed.

LAHORE: The value-added textile sector as suggested the upcoming government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that getting Generalized System of Preferences Plus status for Pakistan should be its top priority, as it will help strengthen the country economically.

ISLAMABAD, May 22: With an ‘amiable’ government in place, Saudi Arabia is expected to extend a bailout package of about $15 billion to Pakistan’s highly indebted energy sector by supplying crude and furnace oil on deferred payment to enable it to resolve the chronic circular debt issue.

A senior government official said the Saudis had been taking reasonable interest in helping out the incoming PML-N government led by Nawaz Sharif.

They had extended a similar special package to Pakistan soon after it went nuclear in 1998 and faced international economic sanctions.

Between 1998 and 2002, Pakistan received $3.5 billion (Rs190 billion at the exchange rate at that time) worth of oil from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment, a major part of which was converted into grant.

According to the official, as soon as the PML-N emerged as the majority party after the May 11 elections, the Saudi ambassador in Islamabad sought a briefing on the country’s oil requirements from the foreign ministry before calling on prime minister-designate Nawaz Sharif in Raiwind, Lahore.

He was immediately provided a position paper, the official said.

Pakistan expects about 100,000 barrels of crude oil and about 15,000 tons of furnace oil per day from Saudi Arabia on deferred payment for three years. The amount involved works out at about $12-15bn.

The facility can be utilised to reduce loadshedding in the short term and provide an opportunity in the medium term to restructure the power sector by minimising subsidies, eliminating circular debt, ensuring recovery from the public sector and reducing system losses to bring it to a self-sustainable level.

“During the package period, the PML-N government can resolve the electricity crisis and develop hydropower projects through a combination of public and private investments and bagasse-based power production by the sugar industry,” he said.

He said the arrangement for oil supplies on deferred payments could be further discussed during Mr Sharif’s first visit to Saudi Arabia soon after assuming the office of prime minister early next month.

Pakistan’s total crude oil import is about 400,000 barrels per day and 30,000 tons of furnace oil. Its total oil import bill stands at about $15bn per annum.

The official said a request for 100,000 barrels of oil and 15,000 tons per day of furnace oil had already been passed on through the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Joint Ministerial Commission.

A meeting of the commission could be convened soon after the new government assumed charge, an official said.

The Saudi rulers had not taken any interest in the issue earlier ostensibly because of the chill in their relationship with the PPP government.

Large political delegations taken to Saudi Arabia by the PPP government were cold-shouldered, an official said, adding that warming up of diplomatic relations with Iran and the UAE and cancellation of hunting facilities for Saudi royals had also annoyed the kingdom.

The official said the breathing space provided by the likely Saudi package could also be used for renegotiating gas price with Iran for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to bring it down to a sustainable level.

Under the gas sales and purchase price agreement, any party may seek revision of the rates in view of the cost of alternative import options one year ahead of the first gas flows scheduled to take place in December 2014.

The official ruled out any possibility that the Saudi oil package could be used to persuade Pakistan to stay away from the Iranian gas import. He said the project had reached an advanced stage and involved international agreements and, therefore, backtracking was no option, but the development could give leverage to Pakistan to secure lower gas prices. (DAWN)

SINGAPORE: Oil was down in Asia on Wednesday as traders waited for the release of the latest energy inventory report from the United States, analysts said.

Weak demand and surging crude stockpiles in the world's biggest economy have put downward pressure on prices and limited gains.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for delivery in July, dropped 42 cents to $95.76 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for July delivery shed 32 cents to $103.59.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Caretaker government is actively considering to levy taxes to the tune of Rs. 150 billion through presidential ordinance.

According to informed sources, the government has decided to levy 5 percent with-holding tax on the purchase of new vehicles, 17 percent GST on sugar, and raise GST to 1.5 percent on all exports.

Besides these, Federal Excise Duty on cigarettes would be 65 percent of the retail price.

Pakistan, Business News : Islamabad has authorised the export of 100,000 tonnes of wheat to Iran in trade not jeopardised by Western sanctions, to settle dues for electricity supplied to Pakistan’s energy-starved border areas, the Commerce Ministry said on Friday.

The shipment of 100,000 tonnes was to have been delivered to Iran in mid-February but was delayed by preparations for Pakistan’s May 11 election.

“The wheat is being given to Iran against the outstanding payment of $53 million for electricity supplied to Pakistani border areas from the Iranian grid,” ministry spokesman Mohammad Ashraf said.

“The interim cabinet has approved the decision and exports will be initiated as early as possible.”

The European Union and the United States have imposed toughened sanctions meant to discourage Tehran’s nuclear programme, which they say has a military purpose. Iran rejects that claim, saying its programme aims at the peaceful production of electricity.

Western sanctions do not target food shipments, but financial measures have frozen Iranian companies out of much of the global banking system, hindering payments for imports, on which Iran relies for much of its food.

Pakistan is battling a chronic energy shortage, which is inflaming public anger and stifling industry. Power outages can last eight to 10 hours a day in cities, with much more frequent cuts in rural areas.

“Pakistan is an energy-starved country facing severe power cuts that are badly hampering industrial output,” Ashraf said.

“Connecting far-flung areas to Pakistan’s grid is a costly affair.”

Electricity from Iran costs Pakistan around $3 million a month and is supplied to towns near the Iranian border, including the port city of Gwadar.

Pakistan also says it is building a $7-billion gas pipeline with Iran, despite U.S. pressure on Islamabad to back out of the project. Reuters

KARACHI: Cementmakers Friday boosted Karachi Stock Exchange, which bounced back after closing lower a day earlier.

The benchmark 100-share index ended 0.59 percent, or 120.43 points, higher at 20,537.03, while KSE-30 Index rose by 46.89 points to close at 15921.28 level.

Fauji Cement and D.G.Khan Cement rallied in anticipation of the government allocating a high budget for development expenditures.

Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd gained Rs9.00, with investors hoping the resolution of circular debt would help the oil marketing company, dealers said.

D.G.Khan Cement Company Ltd rose 2.21 percent to Rs75.50 and Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd was up 4.23 percent at Rs244.50.

On Friday, the shares of 381 companies were traded out of which 242 closed higher, 113 closed lower while 26 remained unchanged.

Total turnover was 372302740 shares as compared to previous volume of 418701095.

Most active trading was recorded in the Rafhan Maize XD and Bata (Pakistan).