Lahore - Pakistan Steel Mills CEO Maj General (r) Zaheer Ahmed Khan Wednesday said that PSM is on the path of revival as its productivity has gone up to 40 per cent from as low as 5 per cent only a year back.
He said that production would reach to its maximum level in the coming month as production was increasing 10 per cent monthly.  Addressing the LCCI Maj General (r) Zaheer Ahmed Khan promised the members to resolve the issue of NAB cases against traders and dealers. He said that he would try to resolve this issue at the earliest.  He said government is taking keen interest in addressing the key issues faced by Pakistan Steel. He claimed that by December 2014, the Pakistan Steel would escalate the per annum production capacity to 77%.
He pointed out that an action plan is ready to get Pakistan Steel out of the present crisis, urging the business community to extend full cooperation to this regard.  
The LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz urged the Pakistan Steel Mills get withdrawn NAB cases against traders and consumers dealers of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).
He said that there is no justification of cases against traders and consumer dealers of PSM as they have no control over the prices of products of Pakistan Steel Mills.
He said that Pakistan Steel Mills really cuts a sorry figure when it comes to production capacity utilization which is still far below than the desired level. Its annual production capacity is 1.1 million tons of steel and whenever any major drop in output appears due to under-production, it further aggravates the imbalance between total demand and supply of iron and steel in Pakistan.  Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that it is estimated that Pakistan’s total demand for iron and steel is over 8 million tons a year which has to be fulfilled through imports. For that matter, he said, the industrialists in particular have to bear extra cost and wait long for the shipments to reach their mills.  He said that these factors badly affect the competitive edge of Pakistani industry and it could not fancy much chances of getting sufficient export orders. The upcountry businessmen have to face relatively more issues because of some factors including deficiency in purchasing required quantity and quality of steel, extra transportation time & cost, inconsistent supplies of energy for further processing etc, LCCI president added.
LCCI President said that solution lies in de-politicization of Pakistan Steel, 100% production capacity utilization, making it a self-reliant unit and last but not least running every single facility of Pakistan Steel under the supervision of professional management.