LAHORE: The government is considering suspending the import of Indian raw cotton through Land Freight Unit (LFU) Wagah, sources told Customs Today.
In the wake of duty taxes, the Pakistan Customs at Land Freight Unit Wagah has collected a huge amount of taxes on import of cotton worth Rs 2.8 billion in the first ten months of the fiscal year 2015-16.
Sources informed Customs Today that now Pakistan can suspend import of cotton to protect local cotton growers. It is important to mention here that hundreds of farmers are protesting against import of agricultural items from India and they staged a sit-in at Mall Road Lahore for two days for demanding suspension import of Indian cotton and other items.
While on the other hand APTMA Chairman S.M. Tanveer said that the current year cotton crop as compared to the crop size of 2014/15 was already short by 34.32 percent, or 5.103 million bales, therefore, putting restrictions on import of 0.5 million bales of lint cotton from India through Wagah border will not only add the problem of shortage of raw materials of spinning industry, but would also compel a number of spinning units to close production, resulting in increase in unemployment and law and order situation.
He also said that the industry pays around Rs800 million in the form of cotton cess, which is meant for cotton research even though we are facing shortage of cotton in the country and about 25 percent of cotton consumption requirement is met by import.
It is the duty of our cotton scientists in Pakistan Central Cotton Committee to introduce new varieties of cotton seeds to obtain maximum yield so that our consumption requirement is met by the local cotton, he added.
He demanded the government to remove three percent custom duty and five percent sales tax on import of cotton and introduce high rate of duty and taxes on import of yarns and fabrics of cotton and synthetic fibres to save the domestic industry producing the above goods.
