Do PE and PP pay customs duty?

No. Polyethylene and polypropylene in primary form both carry 0% customs duty, regardless of grade. Sales tax at the standard rate still applies.

Why does our PVC shipment cost more than a competitor's?

Most likely grade or origin. Suspension-grade PVC from China, Korea, Thailand or Chinese Taipei carries an anti-dumping duty on top of ordinary customs duty and sales tax, at a rate specific to the named exporter. Plasticised PVC also carries a higher customs duty line than general-grade PVC regardless of origin.

Does PET have an anti-dumping duty too?

Not on the resin itself, as far as we have found. Anti-dumping cases exist against related products further up the chain — purified terephthalic acid, and some polyester fibres and yarns — but those are separate cases against separate products, not against PET resin in primary form.

What is the value addition tax, and does it apply to us?

A 3% charge collected at import stage on most commercial imports, in addition to ordinary sales tax. It does not apply to raw material a manufacturer imports for its own production. It does apply to a trading company importing to resell, regardless of what the invoice calls the transaction.

Our supplier isn't one of the named exporters in the PVC ruling. What rate applies?

The residual rate set for 'all other exporters' from that country. Being unnamed does not mean untaxed — it means the higher catch-all rate, not an exemption.

Is the Indonesia and US PVC case final?

No. It is at the preliminary determination stage, with provisional duties already being collected against named exporters there. A preliminary determination can still change at final determination, so we are not going to quote you a number from it as if it were settled.

Which port do you clear plastic raw material through?

Karachi Port and Port Qasim for sea shipments; the Lahore dry port for cargo moving in-bond to Lahore.

Import duty · Plastics

What PE, PP, PVC and PET cost coming in, and why only one of them carries an anti-dumping duty.

Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026

Polyethylene and polypropylene, in primary form, come in at 0% customs duty. PVC carries 10% to 15% depending on grade, and PET carries 5% to 10% depending on grade. Sales tax adds 18% on all four. That is the ordinary case. PVC has a second line most converters importing PE or PP never have to think about: an anti-dumping duty, running for three years from June 2025, on suspension-grade resin from China, Korea, Thailand and Chinese Taipei, at a rate that depends on which named exporter shipped it. A newer case against Indonesia and the United States is still at the preliminary stage. And if you import to resell rather than to feed your own line, there is a third tax most competitors' pages do not mention at all.

Granules, chips and powder, not finished plastic

This is about the resin itself — polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC and PET in primary form, the input a converter melts, extrudes or moulds, not a finished plastic article. A pipe extruder buying PVC compound, a bottler buying PET chips, a film blower buying PE granules: that is the shipment this page is about.

The four resins are not one product for customs purposes, and they are not one duty bill either. Grade decides more of the bill than the polymer name does, and for one of the four, the country of origin decides more of it than the grade does.

The four resins, and what actually sets the rate

PCT headings and grade structure: Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27. Checked September 2026.
Resin	PCT heading	What decides the rate
Polyethylene (PE)	39.01 — by specific gravity and type	Grade, not origin — the same duty regardless of supplier country
Polypropylene (PP)	3902.1000	One line, one rate, regardless of grade or origin
PVC (polymers of vinyl chloride)	39.04 — emulsion, suspension, plasticised and other grades each have their own line	Grade, and for suspension grade specifically, also origin
PET (polyethylene terephthalate)	3907.61 / 3907.69 — yarn and film grade, bottle grade, and other	Grade — bottle grade is priced differently from fibre-grade chip

Customs duty on the resin, by grade

This is the ordinary customs duty line, before anything else gets added. PE and PP are flat regardless of grade. PVC and PET are not.

Polyethylene (PE), all primary forms0%on assessed value · Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27, PCT heading 39.01
Polypropylene (PP)0%on assessed value · Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27, PCT 3902.1000
PVC, suspension/general grade10%on assessed value · Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27, PCT 3904.1090
PVC, plasticised15%on assessed value · Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27, PCT 3904.2200
PET, bottle grade10%on assessed value · Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27, PCT 3907.6120 / 3907.6920
PET, yarn and film grade5%on assessed value · Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27, PCT 3907.6110 / 3907.6910

Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — Pakistan Customs Tariff, FY2026-27. Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.

Sales tax, and the extra line a trader pays that a manufacturer doesn't

Sales tax applies to all four resins at the standard rate. On top of that, a second charge applies at import stage to most commercial imports — but not to raw material a manufacturer brings in for its own production.

Sales tax18%on value inclusive of customs duty · Sales Tax Act, 1990, Section 3(1) — standard rate, no exemption found for these headings
Value addition tax3%on assessed value, at import stage · Sales Tax Act, 1990, Section 7A and Twelfth Schedule — not charged on raw material imported by a manufacturer for its own in-house consumption

Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — Sales Tax Act, 1990 (consolidated text). Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.

Why PVC has a second duty bill and PE and PP don't

We have not found a current anti-dumping case against polyethylene or polypropylene in primary form. PVC is a different position. Suspension-grade PVC from China, Korea, Thailand and Chinese Taipei has carried an anti-dumping duty since 2017, extended twice since — most recently for a further three years from June 2025 — because the National Tariff Commission found that the domestic industry would still be injured by dumped imports if the duty lapsed. The rate is not one number. It depends on which named exporter shipped it, and a residual rate applies to anyone not named.

A separate, newer case is underway against suspension-grade PVC from Indonesia and the United States, at the preliminary stage as of this year, with provisional duties already being collected against specific named exporters there too. A preliminary determination is not a final one, and the rate it sets can still move before the case concludes. We would rather point you to the case than print a number that the Commission could still revise.

None of this touches PE, PP or PET pricing. It sits only on suspension-grade PVC under PCT 3904.1090, on top of the ordinary customs duty and sales tax above, and it is collected at the border in the same way customs duty is.

Anti-dumping duty on suspension-grade PVC (PCT 3904.1090)

Continued for a further three years from 8 June 2025, following the National Tariff Commission's second sunset review. The rate depends on the named exporter; an unnamed exporter from the same country pays the residual rate.

China — Xinjiang Tianye (Group) Foreign Trade3.44%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
China — Inner Mongolia Wuhai Chemical Industry6.65%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
China — Tianjin LG Bohai Chemical / all other China exporters20.47%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
China — Tianjin Dagu Chemical14.34%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
Korea — LG Chem4.00%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
Korea — all other exporters14.97%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
Thailand — all exporters13.98%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II
Chinese Taipei — all exporters16.68%on C&F value · NTC, second sunset review conclusion, A.D.C. No. 50/2016/NTC/PVC/SR-II

Checked 13 September 2026 against National Tariff Commission — Conclusion of Second Sunset Review, PVC Resin (Suspension Grade). Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.

If you import to resell rather than to feed your own extrusion or moulding line, the value addition tax above is not something we can get you out of by how the invoice is worded. The exclusion belongs to a manufacturer's own in-house consumption, not to a trading company, whatever the paperwork calls the buyer. We tell you which one you are before the declaration goes in, not after.

Chemicals and plastics companies we have cleared for

Raw material for converters and manufacturers, not finished plastic goods.

Glowchem International · NAD Chemicals

Questions

What plastics importers ask us

Contact

Tell us what is coming.

Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.

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