Prgmea seeks easy procedure for fabric import instead of DTRE facility

LAHORE: Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (Prgmea) on Tuesday appealed the government to allow the import of fabric under a simple and easy procedure instead of “Procedure of Duty Tax Remission for Exports” (DTRE), which is very complicated as only two percent of the exporters can avail importing under the DTRE facility.

Prgmea Vice Chairman Adeeb Iqbal Shikeh, stressing the need for duty-free fabric import to encourage value-addition, suggested the government to review its textile policy to remove hurdles hindering exports and to enable the textile sector to attain the exports targets.

“Prgmea urges the government to abolish all duties on import of fabrics, as value-added garment sector is facing severe shortage of basic raw material, which may lead to a drastic decline in value-added textile export.”

He said that the whole process of import as well as audit under DTRE system takes at least 26 weeks in Pakistan while in Bangladesh the entire procedure is completed in just in two hours. As a result, Bangladesh textile exports have surged to $26 billion without producing a single bale of cotton while Pakistan has never crossed the figure of $16 billion despite producing its own raw material.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021