PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) has urged the government to waive off demurrage charges of consignments stuck at ports for clearance.

In a statement issued by Chairman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA), Afan Aziz here on Monday, the Spinning Textile Mills of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) are facing significant difficulties due to the non-availability of foreign exchange in State Bank and commercial banks, resulting in a significant number of consignments being stuck at ports for clearance.

He said that delay in clearance is causing a financial burden on the mills as they are being charged huge amounts of demurrage and container detention charges by the relevant port authorities, container terminal companies and shipping companies.

In his connection, he said that KPTMA has also written letters to the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs and the Ministry of Finance requesting a waiver of demurrage charges and seeking prompt support in directing State Bank and commercial banks to assist the mills in retiring existing letters of credit of USD 10 Million and establishing new ones for importing essential raw materials.

Aziz also praised the state bank’s circular dated December 27, 2022, which relaxed import restrictions on export-oriented sector imports, and stated that spinning mills qualify for import relief as they are an export-oriented sector.

He also emphasized that spinning mills convert imports into exports and generate valuable foreign currency exchange, and highlighted that the export-oriented sector brought in a record-high foreign exchange of USD 19.33 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023