KARACHI: Yarn merchants have appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that regulatory duty should not be imposed on the import of yarn to save industry from disaster.

In this regard, the representative delegation of Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association should be given a meeting time so that the government can be informed about the complete facts and figures before taking any decision.

Former chairman of Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) Mohammad Usman, senior vice chairman Sohail Nisar, and vice chairman Javed Khananani addressed an emergent press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday.

On this occasion, FPCCI senior vice chairman Salman Chawla and former Chairman Saqib Goodluck were also with them.

Yarn traders appealed to the government to maintain the current duty structure of yarn. “No RD should be levied on import of yarn to protect local textiles as imposition of regulatory duty will have a direct impact on inflation in the country,” they said.

On the other hand, they said yarn manufacturers would increase their prices according to the landed cost of imported yarn ass a result, the price of finished textile products would also be increase and would have a double impact on inflation.

They said yarn manufacturers could not capture the market due to low quality and high cost of production despite the huge difference in duty structure.

They were of the view that instead of imposing RD, efforts should be made to increase effective production capacity.

Association leaders told the media that they are importers of polyester filament yarn which is the main raw material in Pakistan’s textiles because yarn is not a finished product.

They said cotton has been replaced by yarn and the textile industry in Pakistan is largely dependent on imported yarn.

During the briefing, the traders also presented the comparison of duty and tax rates to the media and informed about the technical issues and appealed to the government of Pakistan for immediate attention.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022