Industry Ministry starts high-level 2012 pre-Budget consultations; also mooting Industrial Forum nex

Sri Lanka is mooting an Industrial Forum on the style of recently-revived Exporters’ Forum.

“We are now planning an Industrial Forum to facilitate issues faced by our industries. I will also announce more details on the pharmaceutical manufacturing zone in due course,” announced Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen yesterday.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the 2012 Pre Budget Consultation Forum consisting of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, reps from various business chambers and federations, private sector industry reps and the various advisory committee reps at the auditorium of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce building at Colombo 3.

The industrial forum also functions as an entry point for the higher-level Exporters’ Forum. “Once it’s established, it may become the preliminary round before the Exporters’ Forum,” said Ministry of Industry and Commerce Additional Secretary Asitha Seneviratne.

The 21 October pre-Budget consultation was an initial round aimed at 2012 budget and focused on various industry-specific issues. The issues are, among others, the need for minimum (for domestic) and maximum (for expatriate) wage structures for industries in the country, SME issues (the availability of loans and other banking facilities for the country’s SMEs and TIEP – Temporary Importation for Export Processing Scheme related issues), packaging (raw material import related), chemical industry (clarification of chemical sector-water based raw material imports), boating industry (the emerging second hand boat market), spice industry (requirements and current issues), food industry (labelling, legal and regulatory clarity in rules pertaining to local food industries), rubber industry (labour and holiday issues), shipping (issues in LCL cargo clearing) and pharmaceutical manufacturing (need for level playing field in local pharmaceutical manufacturing).

Minister Bathiudeen also said that he would, in due course, provide more details on the forthcoming pharmaceutical manufacturing zone to be established in Kurunegala. Yesterday (21), on a proposal made by Minister Bathiudeen, the Cabinet approved a Dedicated Industrial Zone for manufacturing of pharmaceutical products to be established in Kurunegala on a 48-acre block of land identified to promote the local pharmaceutical industry. A buyback agreement facility (with the Ministry of Health) for the zone’s manufacturers is also on the cards.

Sri Lanka currently has nine pharmaceutical manufacturers (eight Sri Lankan-owned and one multinational) serving the US$ 40 billion market, 40% of which is handled by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation. The market is highly competitive, with close to 300 foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers’ products (in addition to local manufacturers’) being sold islandwide.