Weaving units faces financial loss due to import of Indian fabric via Dubai

The weaving units in Pakistan facing heavy financial losses due to import of Indian fabric from Dubai which is still unchecked and the government need to stop this import, said Pakistan Apparel Forum (PAF) chief Jawed Bilwani.

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. Itt 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. This open import of Indian fabric, large number of weaving units in Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Lahore are non-functioning.

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 that 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. The cotton production of

Pakistan has decreased by 10.38% to 1.10 million bales in 2014-15 over 2013-14.

In case the government desires to continue imposing 10% regulatory duty on import of cotton yarn, he said that 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.

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.

It was surprising that the government announced this measure all of a sudden before the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) without taking its approval, adding that even important ministries such as Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Textile and Ministry of Industries were not taken on board.