KARACHI: The customs authorities have launched a drive to rationalise the prices of around 500 imported items to bring them close to the market value, official sources said on Tuesday.
The goods are mostly imported from Dubai, China, Singapore and some other Far Eastern countries.
The objective of the drive is to curb the revenue loss to the national exchequer due to undervaluation and to protect the local industry from dumping.
In order to update the valuation of imported goods, the Directorate General Customs Valuation after taking stakeholders on board is now developing valuation database for the guidance of field officers. This database will later be notified on Web-Based One Customs (WeBOC) software.
Director General Customs Valuation Syed Tanvir Ahmad told media that the valuation problem was related to around 25 per cent of imports as the prices of liquid bulk cargo, such as petroleum products, government imports and imports made by multinational companies were mostly transparent.
In order to determine the correct valuation price of a good, prices being quoted in markets such as the London Metal Exchange, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and in specialised publications were being taken under consideration, he said. Guidance from trade bodies were also taken for fixing valuation price, he added.
In this regard, the Directorate General Customs Valuation has already issued valuation rulings for around 80 items, he said.
Some of the goods which have been subjected to revision in valuation included footwear, textile garments, soap, stationery, medium-density fibre (MDF), tiles, lighting fixtures, etc, he said. “Barring MDF, all the other goods are subject to upward revision in valuation price.”
