As the Pakistan cotton output during 2015/16 season fell to 9.786 million bales, the local textile industry is compelled to import raw cotton from overseas markets to meet its demand requirement of basic raw material in the wake of devastating crop failure in 2015/16 season at home and make their business competitive.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) has urged the government to immediately waive all duties and taxes on import of cotton to facilitate the local textile industry meeting their requirement of raw material from abroad. As the increased taxes on imported cotton are not only translating to rise in cost of doing business of the textile sector, but also making such products costlier in the international market.

Textile industry pays three percent custom duty and one percent additional duty on import of cotton.

The KCA urged the government to ensure free trading policy in cotton i.e. free export and free import of cotton without any quantitative and qualitative restrictions.

The government also needs to take concrete measures to increase cotton production in the years to come. In this way, there would be ample surplus cotton available for the domestic consumptions as well as exports to keep the presence of Pakistan cotton in the international market and earn much needed foreign exchange for the country. The provision of export surplus will ensure international price of cotton to the Pakistani growers.

The KCA said that the industry wants to ensure contribution towards achieving the target of exports fixed by the government.