KARACHI: Importers and traders of Polyester Filament Yarn (PFY), which is the basic raw material of textile industry and small & medium units, has termed excessive rise in prices in local markets as catastrophic for exports and appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to take steps to save the industry from catastrophe and demanded to abolish all taxes on import of PFY. They feared that if the government does not immediately allow duty-free import of PFY, Pakistan will lose a large number of export orders.
In an appeal to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Khawar Noorani, deputy convener standing committee on imports, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), former chairman Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association(PYMA) and Khalid Iqbal Gader, former vice chairman PYMA, said that local manufacturers of PFY have failed to meet the export oriented industry demand and SMEs, but despite this, the government protecting them, had imposed a regulatory duty on PFY imports, which is totally unfair.
“Imported Polyester Filament Yarn’s landed cost is very high, due to half dozens of taxes on import, such as custom duty 11pc, regulatory duty 2.50pc, additional custom duty 2pc, anti-dumping duty 4 to 11pc, advance sales tax 17pc, advance income tax 1pc, which were 39pc”, they drew PM attention.
FPCCI and PYMA leaders raised the questions that” Is this wisdom to impose such a lot of taxes on industrial raw material? if the raw materials are expensive, then how can cheap products be made to compete with competitors in global markets”, added that with the cancellation of export orders, a large number of workers will also become unemployed.
Khawar Noorani and Khalid Gader appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to abolish all taxes on PFY import and allow duty free, so that production activities continue unabated, especially the Weaving & Knitting Industry, able to fulfill export orders timely. Otherwise, Pakistan will lose its export share in international markets.
