LAHORE: The Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) has expressed concern that recent energy tariff relief measures, aimed at supporting industrial competitiveness, are not delivering meaningful benefits for a large segment of the industrial sector, including furniture manufacturing. While the government’s incremental package reduced electricity tariffs by Rs4.04 per unit for industrial consumers, PFC Director Shahbaz Aslam said higher fuel costs and quarterly adjustments have significantly reduced the effective relief, limiting the intended impact on production costs and export competitiveness. Shahbaz Aslam noted that the government reported benefits reaching 127,686 industrial consumers over December and January 2025-26, with a cumulative financial relief of Rs12.125 billion. However, PFC highlighted that the reduction mostly benefitted smaller or non-operational industries, while larger manufacturers and those in the B3 and B4 categories, which contribute significantly to production, were unable to fully utilise the package. News Desk
