MULTAN, Aug 1: A Chinese pesticides manufacturing firm is disappointed with the Pakistani market after “being exploited” by an influential importer for the last several years. Export manager of the Hebei Vian Bio-Chemical Company (HVBCC), Mr Guo Junhui said that pesticides worth $100m were being exported to Pakistan from China per annum from various manufacturers. Of them, his firm was the single largest exporter with annual exports of $15m.

He said chemistries Emamectin Benzoate and Abamectin of his firm were popular in the Pakistani market. In 2001 his firm applied registration of Emamectin in Pakistan through several importers. However, the authorities denied registration to his firm and instead registered the chemistry under a brand name (form-1) for one importer in 2003.

Mr Junhui said that the registration of the chemistry under form-1 to only one importer created a buyer’s monopoly.

“We had no other choice except to fall prey to his (sole importer’s) manoeuvrings because we cannot sell the product to other importers in Pakistan,” he added. He said his firm brought the matter to the knowledge of Pakistani premier Shaukat Aziz during his visit to China last year and on his assurance chalked out a plan to establish a pesticides manufacturing plant in Pakistan. He said they were encouraged further when the Pakistani government placed Emamectin on the generic list of form-16 in February this year so that any importer could order its consignment.

Mr Junhui said that six more Pakistani importers got registration of Emamectin under form-16 and placed import order with his firm. However, the importer moved a civil court in Lahore with a claim that he was the sole agent to sell the product in Pakistan and secured a stay order.

He said however the civil court vacated the stay when his firm clarified the position. The importer then approached the Lahore High Court against the civil court decision. Recently, the importer filed the same suit with another civil court of Lahore and secured a fresh stay order till Sept 2, 2005, against custom clearance and registration of Emamectin.

Mr Junhui said the legal wrangling had shaken their confidence. As a matter of fact, the Chinese companies were now scared to invest in Pakistan as anyone here could play around with the law as well as the government departments.

“Interestingly, the registration of the litigant has expired in June this year but he still has the ability and support of some unknown forces to manipulate the situation in his favour,” he lamented.

He said his firm was fighting its case in the court of law but it seemed that the litigant would manage to waste the crucial time for pesticides import to the country, which was his real aim. The spray season for cotton crop had started and the goods shipped by his firm were lying at the Karachi port but they could not be cleared due to the stay order of a civil court in Lahore.

Meanwhile, the provincial department of pest warning and the quality control of pesticides has recently raided several pesticides dealers and confiscated Emamectin Benzoate being sold under the label of some unauthorized importers. Cases in this regard have been lodged with the Muzaffarabad and Cantonment police stations of Multan.

The Emamectin issue also remained the subject of hot discussion in a meeting of the Cotton Crop Management Group held here on Monday with the provincial agriculture minister Arshad Khan Lodhi in the chair.

The sole importer of the chemistry was reminded of a newspaper advertisement which his firm had got published to announce drastic price reduction of the product when the government had allowed its import under the generic name.

Sources said that the representative of the importer told the CCMG meeting that the price reduction was for generic name and not for the brand name. “We will reduce the price when the product will start coming in the country under generic name,” he was quoted to have said.