Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Gohar Ejaz has urged the Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF) manufacturers to rise above the situation and resolve issues relating to availability of raw material to the textile industry. He said Pakistan is the only country with odd fibre-mix at the ratio of 80 percent cotton and 20 percent Man Made Fibre (MMF) against world proportion of 40 percent cotton and 60 percent MMF.
Consequently, he said, the textile industry has not been able to diversify in terms of products as well as market. According to him, it is heartening to note that the textile industry has created a demand of 12000 tones fibre, higher than the domestic production. He said the Dewan Salman Fibre, a leading PSF manufacturer producing above 10,000 tones, is already closed and no immediate new PSF plant is likely to be in place for production for next two years.
Further, he said, the protective duty of 6.5 percent imposed on import of PSF with no deemed drawback, resulting into a situation with no level-playing field for value added industry. The fear of 12 percent anti-dumping duty on all manufacturers except one from the region is adding salt to the injury. Chairman Aptma said the textile ministry should look into the issue and facilitate the textile industry by ensuring withdrawal of litigation through formation of a committee forthwith. This would facilitate the industry in importing PSF from anywhere in the region instead of becoming hostage to a single Chinese PSF manufacturer.
Gohar Ejaz has expressed the hope that the polyester manufacturers, including ICI, Rupali and Pak Synthetic would act prudently and give consent to the formation of two-member committee for withdrawal of litigation. It would lead to a situation where the PSF industry would confer strength to the textile industry, enabling it to be competitive in the upcoming $800 billion global textile trade.
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