LAHORE: The largest exhibition of Pakistan’s plastic, printing and packaging industry opened in Lahore on Thursday, with over 650 companies from more than 30 countries taking part in a three-day event that runs until September 5.
Provincial Minister for Industries and Commerce Chaudhry Shafay Hussain inaugurated “3P Pakistan 2026”, organised by FAKT Exhibitions (Pvt) Ltd, and toured the stalls.
Speaking to the media, Chaudhry Shafay Hussain said such exhibitions promote business activity and help increase exports, and that environment-friendly initiatives, sustainable packaging and innovation would open new avenues for growth. He said the sector’s legitimate issues were being resolved on a priority basis.
He said record investment had been made in Punjab over the past two and a half years, with existing industries expanding alongside new entrants. He added that, for the first time in Pakistan’s history, manufacturing of Vivo mobile phones and chip frames was about to begin in Punjab.
Vivo’s presence in Punjab is not new. The Chinese manufacturer began smartphone assembly at the M-3 Industrial Estate in Faisalabad in 2021 with an initial investment of about $10 million, and signed a further agreement with the Punjab Industries Department in December 2024 for a manufacturing facility in a special economic zone.
The chip frame plant is the newer element. In July 2026, the same minister told an industry event in Lahore that the Vivo chip frame facility was 40 per cent complete and expected to begin production within a year — a timeline that places output in 2027 rather than imminently.
Separately, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority data show Vivo’s local production fell 30 per cent in the first five months of 2026, the sharpest decline among major brands, even as overall domestic manufacturing met 85 per cent of national handset demand.
The minister said the Chief Minister had introduced a new industrial policy, that plots in Special Economic Zones could now be acquired on lease, and that industrial estates were being shifted to solar energy. He said interest-free loans were being provided under the Chief Minister’s Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme for small and medium businesses, with a similar scheme being launched for large-scale manufacturing.
Punjab has separately offered investors zero duty on machinery imports and a 10-year income tax exemption in the Sheikhupura, Bhalwal and Rahim Yar Khan industrial estates, with a 30-day NOC timeline.
Industry bodies have struck a more cautious note. At the same July event, FPCCI Senior Vice President Saqib Fayyaz Magoon warned that rising production costs had pushed several multinational companies to scale down or withdraw operations from Pakistan in recent months, while the Lahore Chamber called for a cut in the petroleum levy.
FAKT Exhibitions CEO Salim Khan Tanoli said this year’s focus was innovation, sustainability, responsible use of plastic and promotion of a circular economy.
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