Manufacturers of tractors in Pakistan worked at less than 50 of their combined capacity due to sluggish demand even before the Covid-19 pandemic, which further hurt the industry.
The industry sold 23506 tractors during the current fiscal year’s nine months (July to March) as opposed to last year’s prior period. In the entire preceding fiscal year, tractor sales stood at 50405. In the last few years, the local tractors industry has been going through its worst-ever time in terms of sales and growth, in the midst of all its efforts to modernize agriculture and encourage farm mechanization.
Tractors industry has expressed surprise at the argument made in its budget proposal by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), that local tractors have low quality and high prices.
“The fact is that Pakistan produces high-quality agricultural tractors with a variety of working capability in technical collaboration with renowned foreign manufacturers like New Holland Tractors and Messey Ferguson, and by the fact, the most economical tractors are as compared to the rest of the world,” said Mohammad Shahid Hussain, CEO of AlGhazi Tractors Limited.
“The local tractors industry is by all accounts the country’s premier industry. It has attained 95 percent localization, which is why they are by a wide margin among the inexpensive in the world, even inexpensive than China”, he said, adding that Pakistan is now exporting tractors and their parts to Europe and Africa, which is also a testament to their efficiency and competitiveness on the global market.
Nevertheless, he agreed with the FPCCI that there is plenty of room for improvement in the agricultural sector by encouraging farm mechanization and disseminating information in the farmer fraternity about best practices in agriculture.
Extracted from City42 News
