Industries · Pharmaceuticals and FMCG
Clearing drugs, food and FMCG lines against two regulators, not one.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
Six companies on our register sit in pharmaceuticals and FMCG, among them Pakistan Tobacco Company and Martin Dow. These are the most regulated imports we handle, because a customs assessment is rarely the only approval a shipment needs. Drug raw materials and finished medicines answer to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan before customs is even a question; packaged food and FMCG lines answer to the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority. Both can hold a consignment for reasons that have nothing to do with the declared value.
Two different regulatory worlds, one register
A pharmaceutical raw material and a packaged snack are both FMCG in a spreadsheet, but they are cleared under completely different regimes. Drug raw materials, active ingredients and finished medicines fall under the Drugs Act, 1976 and are administered by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, which licenses their import under the Drugs (Import and Export) Rules, 1976.
Packaged food, beverages and most consumer FMCG lines fall under the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, which holds a list of items subject to compulsory Pakistan Standards at import and can require a sample tested before release. Neither approval is something a clearing agent grants, and neither can be argued around at the terminal.
What comes in, and what decides it
| What is imported | What the assessment turns on | What usually holds it up |
|---|---|---|
| Active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug raw materials | DRAP registration status of the material and the importing manufacturer | A shipment that lands before the DRAP registration it depends on is in place |
| Finished medicines | Product registration and the licence held by the importer | Paperwork that identifies the product differently to how it is registered |
| Packaged food and beverages | Whether the item sits on PSQCA's compulsory standards list, and its remaining shelf life | A sample called for testing before PSQCA will let the consignment move |
| Edible oil and ghee raw material | Grade and specification against a price that moves with the world market | A valuation query on a commodity where the world price shifted between order and arrival |
| General FMCG and consumer trading goods | Classification and labelling against what is actually on the invoice | Packaging or labelling that does not match what PSQCA or the invoice describes |
Pharmaceutical and FMCG companies on our register
Every pharmaceutical, tobacco, food and consumer goods company we have cleared for. Some were single consignments and some were accounts we ran every month for years.
HBM Oil and Ghee Mills · Elegant Salt · Bash Pingle Flour Mill · Syed Food Traders
The approval has to exist before we file, not after
A customs declaration for a drug raw material references the DRAP registration on file for that material and that importer. If the registration has lapsed, was never obtained for this specific item, or names a different importer, the declaration has nothing to reference, and that is not something we can paper over at the point of filing.
PSQCA works the other way round: it can pull a sample of a food or beverage consignment for testing after the goods have landed, on its own timeline, against the shelf life the product has left. We tell an importer what to expect from that process. We do not control how long it takes.
We cannot get a drug registration issued faster by asking, and we cannot get PSQCA to release a sample early because the ship has a slot booked. If your registration is not in place or your product is going to draw a sample hold, we say so before the declaration goes in, not once the consignment is already sitting in the warehouse racking up rent.
Questions
What pharmaceutical and FMCG 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.