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Tractors selling on black market
LAHORE, April 13: Farmers on Monday pointed out a
growing gap between demand and supply of tractors
in the aftermath of recent steel crisis and
dealers' propensity to mint money out of shortage.
"Of late, there has been severe shortage of
tractors because of the wheat harvesting season
and recent hike in prices of steel used in tractor
making and their spares," says an official of
Agriculture Chamber, a farmers' body.
This is a crucial time for agriculture in the
country because of wheat harvesting and coming
sowing of cotton, he said. The growing gap between
demand and supply has resulted in delayed delivery
of tractors to farmers who claim to have paid in
advance.
"It is not only the supply problem, dealers' lust
for money has also worsened the situation," claims
another farmer from central Punjab who is yet to
get his delivery. Dealers of all major
manufacturers are selling tractors on the black
market and making around Rs40,000 to 50,000 per
vehicle, he lamented.
The manufacturers who acknowledge their inability
to meet ever-growing demand of farmers blame the
steel crisis for the "supply chaos". The employee
a local tractors' manufacturer said they would not
be able to make deliveries in time for another two
to three months. "Delayed supply of various parts
has played havoc with the tractor industry," he
said.
Meanwhile, demand for tractors has increased
significantly this year because of easy
availability of credit at cheap rates. Interest
rate has come down to two to three per cent for
big loans and to nine per cent for farmers.
About the black marketeering of tractors, a
manufacturer said that they should not be held
responsible for the sins of the dealers. "The
government should move in to check the black
market as we have hardly any control over them."
A market analyst said manufacturers had a capacity
to produce around 35,000 tractors a year against a
demand of around 45,000. "The gap will naturally
create chaos."
He said that sales and production of tractors had
increased by 50 per cent each in July-September
2003-04 fiscal as compared to the first quarter of
the last year.
Giving the demand and supply fluctuation, experts
said the demand had risen only recently. They
recalled that 31,622 tractors were manufactured in
1983-84 and 31,246 in 1984-85.
In the next few years, production dropped to as
low as 10,417 in 1996-97. But it picked up lately
as credit became easily available and that, too,
at cheap rates. In 2001-02, 35,038 tractors were
manufactured.
Reacting to the situation, Farmers Associates
Pakistan's Hamid Malhi castigated government for
not taking appropriate steps to check the looming
crisis. Punjab Agriculture Minister Arshad Lodhi,
however, expressed his determination to control
the crisis.
A meeting of manufacturers and dealers would be
called in the next few days to assess the
situation and take whatever measures were needed
for retrieving it, he said.
The DAWN
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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