KARACHI: The Directorate General of Customs Valuation revised the customs value of egg powder through Valuation Ruling No 1086/2017 under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969.
According to details, in the pursuance of information provided by local manufacturers M/s Al-Waha Egg Products, Lahore, the Directorate General initiated an exercise to determine the customs values of egg powder falling under PCT heading (0408.9100 & 3502.1100).
During the course of perusal of import clearance data, it was analyzed that the subject item was being assessed by different values, therefore, in order to enforce uniform application of Customs Values of egg powder, the Directorate General issued a database values vide VDB letter No. 12 dated 29.06.2016 of whole egg powder, egg powder yolk and egg powder albumin of different origins as a temporary stop gap arrangement.
For conversion of VDB values into Valuation Ruling a date of meeting was fixed on 10.03.2017 & all stakeholders 1 importers including local manufacturers were called for participation and furnishing there valuable input as industry experts.
M/s AI-Wah Egg Products, Lahore in the capacity of industry expert, pleaded that the values of egg powder products required further enhancement.
However, the manufacturers were informed that after issuance of VDB of the subject item, import data showed bleak statistics and revealed drastic reduction in imports during previous quarters. The manufacturers were informed that in micro economic terms enhancement in the values will create a grey area and may encourage smuggling phenomena.
The manufacturers were, however, of the opinion that instead of smuggled products, it is more likely that the local consumer would start preferring fresh natural eggs instead of imported egg powder.
The Manufacturers were further asked about conversion cost of their product, they stated that they purchased maximum eggs off-season and preserved it for whole year so as to minimize their aggregate production cost.