NEW DELHI: The third country import of Indian fabric from Dubai is still unchecked, which is contributing in heavy financial losses to the weaving units in Pakistan.
The government should stop the import of Indian fabric from Dubai, as large number of weaving units in Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Lahore are non-functioning due to unbridled import of Indian fabric, said Pakistan Apparel Forum (PAF) chief Jawed Bilwani.
He said the government should investigate the Indian fabric import from Dubai and should ask the exporters of Dubai to produce the certificate of origin of the fabric imported into Pakistan.
“It is a well-known fact that there is no manufacturing unit of fabric in Dubai and the Indian fabric is imported to Pakistan via Dubai. The recent relief measures including long term financing (LTF) and export refinance (ERF) by the government on yarn import, it is clearly evident that the government is pampering large size units, which is indeed a matter of great irony for thousands of small and medium size garment manufacturing units, as small and medium size units do not take LTF and ERF,” he added.
Bilwani said Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan himself was of the opinion that raw material-cotton yarn should not be exported and instead be remained in Pakistan for domestic consumption for value added goods for exports. Pakistan’s cotton production decreased by 10.38% to 1.10 million bales in 2014-15 over 2013-14, he added.
In case the government desires to continue imposing 10% regulatory duty on import of cotton yarn, he said the vital value added textile export sector, which earned largest amount of foreign exchange for the nation and generates huge employment, would be completely ruined.
Referring to the imposition of 10% regulatory duty on import of cotton yarn, he said it was surprising that the government announced this measure all of a sudden before the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) without taking it’s approval, adding that even important ministries such as Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Textile and Ministry of Industries were not taken on board.
“The case of anti dumping against import of Indian cotton yarn is still pending with National Tariff Commission (NTC) but the government, without consulting NTC, has imposed 10% regulatory duty on import of cotton yarn from November 1, 2015”, he added.
