A delegation of Pakistan Cutlery Association Wazirabad headed by its Chairman Shakeel Azam met with Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Syed Murtaza Mahmud here on Thursday. Talking to the delegation, the minister assured to reactivate Cutlery Institute of Pakistan through Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company within the next 6to8 months in order to support the industry. He said all possible support including required certification and training would be extended to the industry for enhancing exports to UK. He asked the delegation to submit a viable plan for getting support for establishing warehouses in the European Union and Saudi Arabia. "Their issue of raw material availability to the cutlery industry would be addressed in a coming meeting of Steel manufacturers", the federal minister added. The minister maintained that National Productivity Organisation would provide experts for arranging shop floors and improve general management practices of the industry. The minister was also briefed about a study for enhancing the competitiveness of the cutlery sector conducted by the Engineering Development Board and Pakistan Business Council jointly. The purpose of the study was to propose policy recommendations after detailed review of literature and consultation with the members of the cutlery industry. Earlier, the minister was accorded briefing about the issues the cutlery industry is confronting at local and international level. The minister was informed that the manual process and low technological level in manufacturing units, unavailability of high quality local raw material (stainless steel) and reliance on imports, unavailability of laser sharpening techniques and reliance on manual methods, liquidity and working capital issues due to delay in sales procedures, shortage of skilled labour, non-utilizatiom of subsidized financing schemes, lack of marketing efforts i.e. reluctance of industry to venture into new markets and hesitation of banks to approve LCs in non-traditional markets, branding issues due to absence of stamping of “Made-in Pakistan” on exported products, nonavailability of ceramics material, high rates of taxation on electricity and high regulatory duty on steel scrap are the main barriers for the industry to flourish. The federal minister assured the delegation to resolve their issues at priority and such interactions with them in future, their proposals and our efforts would bring positive results to improve the state of affairs on the industrial front.
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