APTMA seeks removal of curbs on cotton from India

Zahid Mazhar, Senior Vice Chairman, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) said Monday that the suspended import of cotton from India is a great blow to the textile industry as the country is already facing cotton shortage due to lower local crop output for the last two successive seasons.
"This will result in massive closures in the industry as the installed capacity of the textile industry is based on consumption of more than 15 million bales of cotton every year, but now due to the successive crop failures, it has to import about 4 million bales of cotton each year to meet the consumption requirements of the industry," he added.
Commenting on the cotton import issue, Mazhar said in the wake of successive failures of the cotton crop, the government should take supportive measures to meet the shortage of cotton, like removal of 4 percent duty and 1 percent income tax on the import of cotton.
Senior Vice Chairman APTMA said the government is doing exactly the opposite by placing an unannounced ban on the import of Indian cotton through stopping the issuance of import permit by the Plant Protection Department.
"This is a strange attitude of our government since no other country has placed any restrictions on import of cotton from India," he said and added that the textile industry was already facing massive closures before this new development on account of high cost of doing business as well as shortage of cotton and was hoping for the announcement of the much awaited textile package, instead of which further damage has been inflicted on the textile industry in the shape of restrictions on the import of cotton from India.
Mazhar said APTMA has pointed out the gravity of the situation caused by the unannounced ban on import of cotton from India and approached the Director General of Plant Protection Department with a request to immediately clear the consignments of Indian cotton which are piling up at the port.
He said restrictions on the import of cotton from India is against the interests of Pakistan since there is an acute shortage of cotton here; while in sharp contrast there is no restrictions on import of cotton yarn from India which is increasing day by day totally unhindered. It is reported that the annual import of yarn and fabrics has crossed the figure of $2.5 billion which is a great burden on our economy.
He said that restrictions on import of cotton which is the basic raw material of the textile industry would on the one hand result in closure of spinning industry in Pakistan and on the other hand it will benefit the textile industry of India since there is no restriction on the import of cotton yarn from India. Closure of spinning mills would cast multiple impacts on the economy of Pakistan, such as reduction in exports, large scale unemployment and worsening law and order situation in the country.
The Senior Vice Chairman reminded that the Federal Minister for Finance had pointed out in his budget speech for 2016-17 that due to the failure of cotton crop in the previous fiscal year, GDP fell by about 0.5 percent. This year again the cotton crop has failed and suspension of import of raw cotton from India would result in further damage to the economy, he added. He urged the government to take urgent measures to rectify the situation by immediate lifting of restrictions on the import of cotton from India.