Cotton production is expected to be 11.8 billion bales during the current year resulting in a shortfall of 4 billion bales. The Senate Standing Committee on Textile Industry which met here on Thursday with Senator Gul Muhammad Lot in the chair was informed that this year cotton production is expected to be less at about 11.8 billion bales and there would be a shortfall of 4 billion bales.
The committee recommended the Textile Ministry to carve a strategy in consultation with all the stakeholders to meet the expected shortfall this year. It was further directed to access what is the requirement of industry and how much should left for export. The committee also recommended that Turkey should be asked to do away with anti-dumping policy on textile exports of Pakistan.
The committee said that the local industry should be given protection and the ministry was directed to apprise the committee about the problem being faced by all stakeholders. It also recommended that APTMA should build a new department for producing new variety of cottonseed. The Committee also recommended that Pakistan should achieve as much per acre yield of cotton as it is in neighbouring countries like India.
The Textile Ministry was asked to guide stakeholders regarding beneficial deals from certain countries. The committee also said that the ministry should have complete and authentic data of all sectors related to textile instead of focusing on voluntary information. The ministry was asked to provide the body with all details of subsidies given by the government to the textile industry and data about tax.
The body unanimously decided to hold a meeting in two weeks for which the ministry of textile industry was directed to have separate meetings with all three major components of the industry ie value added, spinners and growers (APTMA and Pakistan Apparel Forum) in two weeks. The Committee will hold its next meeting after the meetings with the stakeholders and present its report and recommendation to the committee.
Giving a presentation, Javed Balwani, Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum said government should stop cotton export to avoid shortage of cotton yarn in the country and only reasonable quantity of cotton yarn should be exported. He proposed that a system should be devised which could ensure that all stakeholders are registered with MINTEX and allowed to deal in cotton and cotton yarn. For instance, if a registered value added textile exporter / local manufacturer purchases 500 bags of cotton yarn from a registered spinner.
This way only authorised and registered Spinners and Ginners would be able to deal in Cotton and Cotton Yarn respectively and all deals will be documented and MINTEX will have proper data of trading in Cotton and Cotton YarnFurther, as the global price of this commodity increased, the Indian government with imposition of restriction on its export provided a chance to the exporters to back out of deals made at cheaper prices giving the genuine excuse of restriction by their government. Here in Pakistan also in view of the rising global prices, the government can save the exporters from commitments made at cheaper prices but this has not been done, he added.
He further proposed that Withholding Tax on export of raw material be imposed in the following manner, Value Added Textile, 0.5%, fabric/yarn 2% and cotton 3%. This step will greatly help in saving raw material in the country, encourage the value added textile sector and generate huge employment.
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