Recent increase in prices of polyester fiber by local manufacturers would further aggravate the problems of already ailing textile industry by increasing the cost of production and making textile exports uncompetitive in market, said Wasim Latif, Chairman and Adil Manzoor Elahi Vice Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) here on Tuesday.
In a joint press statement, they said that short supply of polyester staple fiber coupled with its increased prices have hit the value added textile sector hard and the local producers of polyester staple fiber were reportedly planning to further raise its price. Hike of Rs 5 per kg in the polyester fiber will give another blow to the value added sector, which is already reeling due to high cost of production, they revealed.
Elaborating, they said, polyester staple fiber prices were already increasing as a result of Anti Dumping Duty on import of polyester staple fiber in Pakistan and recent increase is also part of that wave. The concept of anti dumping duty under WTO is protection of finished goods industry, however, in the present case, the textile industry is being deprived of cheap raw material by imposing anti dumping duty, they explained. The government should take notice of the polyester fiber manufacturer's cartel attitude and the said duty should be withdrawn, they demanded.
The chairman PTEA said that Pakistan is already facing 30% to 40% shortage of cotton due to floods in the country. Pakistani exporters have no option but to divert their production to alternate raw material of polyester fiber. Elaborating, he said that raw material shortage was on two sides, on the one hand 20% of cotton crop had been washed away in the recent floods while on the other hand demand of polyester fiber was in excess of total manufacturing capacity of the fiber mills, they said.
It was, therefore, imperative that adequate supply of raw material for the textile exporters should be ensured to enable them to meet their export commitments, they said. This could be appropriately done by removing import restrictions and allowing duty free import of polyester fiber to give a breathing space to the crisis ridden textile sector, they concluded.
Elahi was of the view that textile crisis lingering over the last few months. Gas closure has added fuel to the fire and the industry is on the verge of collapse, he added. A number of manufacturing units have already shut down their operations while many others are operating partially, as a result thousands of workers have lost their jobs. The textile sector was generating 70% of foreign exchange few years back which has slumped to 55% now, he said apprehending negative impact of downslide in industrial production, he said, textile sector in the country was already under severe strain due to four days loadshedding of gas. Under these circumstances textile exporters were constrained to stop manufacturing activities. PTEA office bearers said that fair distribution of shortage of gas across the board was imperative and asked the government to remove discrimination in gas loadshedding. They demanded that duty free import of polyester fiber should be allowed to fulfil requirements of raw material of local industry.
In a joint press statement, they said that short supply of polyester staple fiber coupled with its increased prices have hit the value added textile sector hard and the local producers of polyester staple fiber were reportedly planning to further raise its price. Hike of Rs 5 per kg in the polyester fiber will give another blow to the value added sector, which is already reeling due to high cost of production, they revealed.
Elaborating, they said, polyester staple fiber prices were already increasing as a result of Anti Dumping Duty on import of polyester staple fiber in Pakistan and recent increase is also part of that wave. The concept of anti dumping duty under WTO is protection of finished goods industry, however, in the present case, the textile industry is being deprived of cheap raw material by imposing anti dumping duty, they explained. The government should take notice of the polyester fiber manufacturer's cartel attitude and the said duty should be withdrawn, they demanded.
The chairman PTEA said that Pakistan is already facing 30% to 40% shortage of cotton due to floods in the country. Pakistani exporters have no option but to divert their production to alternate raw material of polyester fiber. Elaborating, he said that raw material shortage was on two sides, on the one hand 20% of cotton crop had been washed away in the recent floods while on the other hand demand of polyester fiber was in excess of total manufacturing capacity of the fiber mills, they said.
It was, therefore, imperative that adequate supply of raw material for the textile exporters should be ensured to enable them to meet their export commitments, they said. This could be appropriately done by removing import restrictions and allowing duty free import of polyester fiber to give a breathing space to the crisis ridden textile sector, they concluded.
Elahi was of the view that textile crisis lingering over the last few months. Gas closure has added fuel to the fire and the industry is on the verge of collapse, he added. A number of manufacturing units have already shut down their operations while many others are operating partially, as a result thousands of workers have lost their jobs. The textile sector was generating 70% of foreign exchange few years back which has slumped to 55% now, he said apprehending negative impact of downslide in industrial production, he said, textile sector in the country was already under severe strain due to four days loadshedding of gas. Under these circumstances textile exporters were constrained to stop manufacturing activities. PTEA office bearers said that fair distribution of shortage of gas across the board was imperative and asked the government to remove discrimination in gas loadshedding. They demanded that duty free import of polyester fiber should be allowed to fulfil requirements of raw material of local industry.
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