LAHORE - The LCCI Executive Committee Member and President Katarbund Industrial Estate Syed Mehmood Ghaznavi would lead 11-member LCCI delegation to China from May 18 to 21 to take part in Chinaplas 2009. Chinaplas has become a distinguished meeting and business platform for plastic and rubber industries and has also largely contributed to their prosperous development. At present, Chinaplas is not only the largest plastics and rubber trade fair in Asia, it is also widely recognised by the industry as the third most influential exhibition in the world. Its significance is surpassed only by K Fair in Germany, the worlds premier plastics and rubber trade fair, and NPE in USA, the second largest plastics fair in the world. The delegation, comprises M Shoaib, Iqbal Beg Chughtai, Sohail Akbar, Sh M Afzal, Rizwan Aslam, Ijaz Ali, Qamar Uz Zaman, Liaqat Ali, Ghulam Farooq and Chaudhry Wajid Ali, would also visit the various Chambers and other trade organisations in China. Delegation would also have one-to-one meetings with their Chinese counterparts. Syed Mehmood Ghaznavi said that Pakistan is lucky to have skilled and cheap labour and the other positive point of the plastic industry is that it is close to the export markets. The industry has potential to enjoy mass production and meet the export commitments if some certain incentive and relaxations are offered to it. The industry is optimistic that as soon as the plastic industry is recognised as an export oriented industry and the valid support is provided, there would be marked increase in the export of plastic goods and gradually the industry will prove to be a major foreign exchange earning industry in the non-traditional sector. Plastic, which has become an integral part of the modern living, with an estimated consumption of 140kg per person per annum in the developed world, against the per capita consumption of 1.4 kg in Pakistan is reflecting how the country has been left behind of the pace of growth. Almost entire raw material, i.e. 0.3 million tonnes, used in the plastic industry in Pakistan, is imported at a cost of $200 million against a negligible export of $20 million and that is, too, shrinking fast owing to in competitive cost of production. The export figure of $20 million attained by the local plastic industry not because of quality products but only for the items like jugs, mugs and can etc which are no more produced elsewhere in the developed world and are imported from Pakistan. As against five Hydrocracker plants operating in our neighbouring India, Pakistans petrochemical industry has not been successful to set up one during the past over 60 years. It is an irony of the fate that despite availability of indigenous Neptha, required for establishing a Neptha cracker plant, which produces a variety of different raw materials like plastic, polypropylene and synthetic fibre, the state-run petroleum sector has failed to develop a hydrocracker plant. Not only the household goods, such as electronic items, TV. radio and other equipment, the plastic has overwhelmingly taken over the automobile industry and other auto parts, oil industry, machinery parts, medical and surgical items, syringes, and above all the leading role in the packaging industry the world over. Plastic has visibly replaced most of the metals and is being used even in the furniture industry and construction sector and packaging industry. Pakistan is manufacturing household goods, like hot pots, water coolers and some parts for the radio and TV industry, batteries for motor vehicles and containers for the oil industry. The industry has progressed gradually despite difficulties and the Pakistani plastic products are comparable to any other products in the world in design, durability and quality. On the export front, there is a tremendous scope for exporting locally manufactured plastic products to various markets in the Middle East, Africa and even USA, to fetch millions of dollars. Pakistani plastic products have already been introduced and accepted in these markets.