Staff Reporter Lahore
The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) has asked the government to allow yarn import from India through Wagha border land route on zero-duty, exempting it from all types of taxes and duties, as import from Afghanistan and Central Asian States via Torkham land route would not end apparel industry’s raw material scarcity.
We appreciate PM Imran Khan for taking serious note of cotton shortage and its skyrocketing prices in the country, instructing the Ministry of Commerce to take necessary measures, including cross border trade of cotton yarn, to keep the momentum of value-added exports, said PRGMEA Central Chairman Sohail A. Sheikh and Chief Coordinator Ijaz Khokhar in a joint statement issued here on Sunday.
Sohail A. Sheikh said that the apparel sector is in trouble because of cotton shortage and its high prices in local market, as the cotton rates found no respite from an unabated spike with the industrial input trading at season’s highest rates because its depressed local production continued to widen demand and supply gap.
Ijaz Khokhar said the unavailability of cotton yarn has badly affected the value-added textile industry in the domestic market by putting millions of Dollars export orders at stake.
“Apparel sector is now reluctant to book new orders, as it is no more competitive due to record high rates of cotton yarn,” he added.
He said that Adviser on Commerce, Textiles and Investment Abdul Razzaq Dawood had assured the apparel sector of allowing cotton yarn imports from India through Wagha border but now the government is considering permitting imports just from Afghanistan and Central Asian States, which would have no significant impact on cotton shortage.
Sohail A. Sheikh said that importing yarn from other countries was not only expensive but would also take one to two months to reach Pakistan.
