Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association has opposed the demand of Sind Alkali for imposing 20% regulatory duty on imports of soda ash. According to a press release, former chairman of the Association, sheikh Ghulam Ahmed Bhombal, said the only two factories producing soda ash in the country are Sind Alkali and ICI, and that they have increased the prices from Rs 313/ton to Rs. 11,000/ton, taking advantage of the price of furnace oil and devaluation of the Pakistani rupee. He said that all raw materials of soda ash - purely Pakistani indigenous products - are not affected by petroleum nor by the dollar exchange rate. He added that, as a result of restrictions on import of soda ash, more than 70 small and medium chemical processes and sodium silicate and more than 50 small and medium glass industries, including Bangles Industries, have been closed.
