ISLAMABAD: The global economy is faced with supply chain challenges amid the coronavirus outbreak in China. Pakistan also has significant reliance on China, as the former sources bulk of its raw material, intermediate and capital goods from the latter.
To assess any likely negative impact on trade and supply chain due to coronavirus, the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday held a meeting, where senior officials from the MoC, Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan, representatives of the textile sector and the commercial counsellor in Beijing (via video link) were present.
On the feedback from private stakeholders and following an in-house analysis by the commerce ministry and TDAP, the officials deliberated on the possible effects of coronavirus on domestic production and exports by taking into account recent global and bilateral trade trends, possible bottlenecks in supply chains, availability of stocks and supply of raw materials and intermediate goods.
The Beijing commercial counsellor apprised the participants that although there were slight delays in shipments, however, except for Hubei Province, normal trading activities were expected to resume in the next 10 days.
The TDAP secretary and textiles representatives informed the meeting that the intermediate goods’ stock cover was sufficient for 6 to 8 weeks.
