Daily Times

KARACHI: The value-added textile exporters have urged the government to take serious measures to decrease the tariffs of electricity, gas and water.

Talking to Textile Secretary Hassan Iqbal, the representatives of Pakistan Apparel Forum (PAF), Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA), Pakistan Knitwear and Sweater Exporters Association (PAKSEA), Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel (PCFA) and others said that these sub-sectors of textile export provide maximum employment.

PAF Chairman Javed Bilwani highlighted the problems and hurdles of the textile exporters. “We should be brought at par with the regional countries and the government should provide us all necessary facilities, so that our exporters can complete with the global market,” he said, adding that the government should treat the textile sector differently by granting it a separate status.

“Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has promised a special package for the textile industry, but no efforts were made in the regard,” he lamented. However, being unaware of the situation foreign buyers assume that the said packages were availed by the industry and were demanding price cuts and discounts, creating a difficult situation for the exporters, he added.

PHMA Chairman Riaz Ahmed demanded immediate withdrawal of Export Development Fund (EDF) and said that the fund should be immediately transferred to the Ministry of Textile so that it could be used in promoting exports. Proper use of Duty and Tax Remission (DTRE) Scheme was vital for the growth and liquidity of the sector, he added.

PHMA’s Irfan Bawany said that it was a great irony that money worth Rs 150 billion in sales tax, customs rebates and drawback of local taxes and levies claims were not utilised by the government.

The secretary textile refuted to the statements and said that the Textile Ministry was not functioning properly. He said that the government consists of different ministries and each ministry has its own duties. The incumbent government aims to resolve the declining trend in textile exports and the problems faced by the exporters on top priority. He asserted that the government also wanted to relieve the exporters from the problems they were facing.

He said that investment was a major aspect and the Ministry of Textile would assess the problems and speed up all the pending payments, adding that reducing the cost of electricity and eliminating the problem of load shedding was a priority for the prime minister.

We understand that the textile exporters were not happy with the government, but we assure that we would make all the efforts to increase exporters’ margin of profit,” he said.

The meeting finally decided that the value added textile associations would prepare a report highlighting all the demands and problems and present it to the secretary textile in a meeting to be held in near future.