The Cement and Concrete Institute of South Africa has complained that Pakistani cement is selling without letters of authority and enjoying unfair competition in SA’s market, as it has failed several quality tests.
Sources in the cement industry, while quoting the South Africa’s local manufacturer Lafarge, said it was considering approaching the International Trade Administration Commission of SA to protect the local market from low-quality and cheap cement from Pakistan.
As per market sources, the Cement and Concrete Institute of South Africa stated that the country has imported around 140,000 tons of cement in the first quarter of this year from Pakistan, and Lucky Cement has contributed the most in this regard. There were concerns that underweight packages, and cement that lacked strength, were coming in from Pakistan, they said.
However, the commercial secretary of the trade commission of Pakistan Moin-ud-Din Ahmad Wani has defended the cement products from Pakistan, saying Lucky Cement is fully compliant with all NRCS rules, sources added. They said that Trade Commission in SA, while defending products made by a Pakistani cement company, Lucky Cement, argues that cement companies met all quality standards in South Africa and were also cheaper than locally manufactured products.
Wani said that Lucky Cement Limited is Pakistan’s largest manufacturer and exporter of quality cement, meeting the quality standards of more than 22 countries of south-east and middle-east Asia and African subcontinent including SA. Lucky Cement has been a regular exporter of cement to the African region since 2009.
He said that it has all the necessary quality and standard certifications from the SABS itself, which has a stringent quality checking criteria for approving any certificate application.
No comments:
Post a Comment