Pakistani home appliances giant targets $100 million exports in 2 years by tapping US market

The undated file photo shows the building of Pakistani home appliances company, Pak Elektron Limited (PEL). (Photo courtesy: PEL/ website)
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Updated 19 March 2025
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Pakistani home appliances giant targets $100 million exports in 2 years by tapping US market

  • Pak Elektron Limited announced this week it is expanding export operations to US
  • PEL says company eyeing expanding its footprint to Saudi Arabia after tapping US market

KARACHI: Pakistani home appliances giant Pak Elektron Limited (PEL) plans to increase its exports to $100 million by the end of 2026, a senior official of the company said on Wednesday, days after announcing it had begun its export operations to the United States. 

The Lahore-based manufacturer of home appliances has been one of the most-traded scrips at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) so far this week. It had the second-most traded stock on Wednesday, registering a 3.2 percent gain and over 36 million volumes.

On Monday the company announced it has expanded its global footprint and will be now exporting its products to the US. PEL’s new American client is Maddox Industrial Transformer LLC, which supplies new and remanufactured power transformers to commercial and industrial clients in the US.

“We are exporting distribution transformers for now and the majority of our exports, say 90 percent, are going to the US,” Nadeem Asghar, the general manager of finance at PEL, told Arab News. 

PEL plans to increase its exports up to $50 million this year by December and double the same to $100 million by the end of 2026, Asghar said. 

The company’s current exports stand at $3 million, with most of its shipments going to the United Kingdom, Jordan and African countries. 

PEL’s stock price appears to have increased steadily in recent days. Its recent announcement of beginning export operations to the US has contributed to a notable increase in its stock price, Sana Tawfik, the head of research at the Karachi-based brokerage firm Arif Habib Ltd., said.

“The stock price has witnessed a gain of 13 percent in the last three days,” Tawfik told Arab News.

The company has already sent its first consignment of distribution transformers to the US on Mar. 13 as part of its business expansion strategy to explore new international markets.

Asghar, meanwhile, said this is the first time that PEL has received a “major order” from the US.

“The majority of our products will be exported to America now,” he said, adding that PEL would keep increasing its exports even beyond $100 million after 2026 as “sky is the limit.”

PEL entered into a strategic partnership last month with Swedish giant Electrolux AB, a global leader in multi-category home appliances brands such as Electrolux, AEG and Frigidaire, to leverage its strength to drive sustainable growth.

In 2024 Electrolux Group had sales of Swedish Krona 136 billion and the company employed 41,000 people worldwide. 

After tapping the US market, Asghar said the Pakistani company plans to expand its reach to the Middle East as well, particularly Saudi Arabia. 

“We would look to tap the Saudi Arabian market where we see enough demand for our products,” Asghar said, adding that talks with the company’s potential clients from Saudi Arabia were underway. He did not mention their names. 

“We will tap all these markets, the UK, Saudi Arabia and others. Our negotiations are ongoing with the Saudi Arabian clients,” Asghar added. 

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has repeatedly said his government is prioritizing exports to ensure sustainable economic growth for the country’s fragile $350 billion economy. Sharif has recently said his government aims to increase Pakistan’s exports to $60 billion in five years. 

Pakistan is trying to stabilize its economy through sustainable reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a financial bailout program. 


Pakistan making diplomatic efforts to de-escalate Middle East tensions, FM says

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Pakistan making diplomatic efforts to de-escalate Middle East tensions, FM says

  • The statement came as Iran pressed on with a third day of strikes in the Gulf in response to US-Israeli air raids
  • Pakistan’s position is clear that all countries must abide by principles of UN Charter, international law, FM says

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is making diplomatic efforts to de-escalate heightened tensions in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Monday, amid US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s counterstrikes against US bases in Gulf countries.

Tensions escalated across the Middle East on Saturday after coordinated US-Israel strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei among other senior Iranian officials. Tehran responded by targeting US military bases in the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan. Saudi Arabia said Iran also launched attacks targeting Riyadh and the Eastern Province.

The Iranian missile and drone strikes continued on Monday in retaliation for the ongoing US-Israeli air raids, casting uncertainty over the future of the Islamic republic and heightening the risk of broader instability in the already volatile region.

Speaking at a press conference, FM Dar, who recently returned from Saudi Arabia where he attended an Organization of Islamic Cooperation OIC) meeting on Palestine, said Pakistan is very closely monitoring the evolving situation in Iran and the tensions which are building up in the region.

“These serious developments have taken place at a time when diplomatic efforts were underway to reach a peaceful and negotiated solution to [Iran nuclear program],” he said.

“We are making our full diplomatic efforts and, you know, requesting all parties to de-escalate and to refrain.”

Dar said Islamabad was concerned over a violation of the norms and international law, and the age-old tradition that the heads of state and the government should not be targeted.

“Post-World War II, we all know that these institutions were created to create some international, you know, law and order, and that’s why there was a UN Charter. There are certain conventions which we all are supposed to follow,” he said.

“But things are on ground moving very differently, which obviously is worrisome... The international law must prevail and the conventions must be respected.”

The statement came hours after the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia sustained limited damage as a result of debris from the interception of two drones in its vicinity, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing an official source at the Saudi Ministry of Energy.

Several American warplanes crashed in Kuwait on Monday morning but their crew survived, Kuwait’s defense ministry said, as Iran pressed on with a third day of strikes in the Gulf.

Dar said Pakistan’s position has been clear and persistent that all countries must abide by the principles of UN Charter and international law, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states as well as international humanitarian law.

“In my latest conversation with [Iranian] Foreign Minister Abbas Araqshi on 28th of February, I conveyed Pakistan’s condemnation of the attacks and called for restraint and diplomacy and dialogue, which he positively responded,” he shared.

“But on ground, we are seeing that things are not yet settling or easing out.”

Pakistan stands in full solidarity with all its brotherly countries and underscores the need to exercise maximum restraint, according to FM Dar.

“This is a message we have been giving to whosoever prime minister speaks, whosoever I speak, or whosoever Field Marshal Asim Munir speaks to, his counterparts on the defense side,” he said.