Pakistan Loses $25 Million Export Order to Bangladesh Due to Govt Indecision

Pakistan recently lost a $25 million export opportunity to Sudan due to delays in issuing a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) by the Ministry of Health, sources informed ProPakistani. They said the Prime Minister had approved the order, but the federal government’s indecision combined with lobbying by foreign NGOs against Pakistan’s cigarette exports contributed to the deal’s cancellation. NGOs were basically hindering cigarette exports from Pakistan, sources added, and Bangladesh took advantage. Bangladesh quickly seized the chance and supplied cigarette packets to Sudan within a month. In the domestic market, over half of cigarette sales are illegal and caused a drastic reduction in legal sales by around 800 million sticks in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The decline has seen volumes drop from 7.1 billion to 6.3 billion sticks from July to September, with one major brand alone experiencing a fall from 660 million to 300 million sticks per year. Sources said this could result in a Rs. 4 billion loss in market sales by year-end. They further added that empowering provinces to act against cigarette smuggling may help curb illegal sales and recover some of the lost revenue. However, despite government initiatives, significant barriers remain to Pakistan’s legitimate cigarette industry and export ambitions.