KARACHI: Saqib Naseem, Chairman Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), and Muhammad Junaid Teli, Vice Chairman, Sindh & Balochistan region, have drawn attention of Minister for Finance & Revenue, Miftah Ismail over anomalies in federal budget 2022-23.
They elaborated that polyester filament yarn (HS Code 5402.3300, 5402.4600, 5402.4700 and 5402.5200), also known as man-made yarn, is the basic raw material for Pakistan’s textile industry. The share of cotton in global fiber consumption has fallen from nearly 70 percent back in 1960, to only 27 percent by end-2020. Its place has now been captured by synthetic or man-made yarns.
“A very large SME sector of Pakistan’s textile industry (more than 500,000 looms and knitting machines) consumes polyester filament yarn. The commercial importers of polyester filament yarn act as financiers to this SME sector and entertain the requirements of this SME sector using their own capital and resources”, they said.
Saqib Naseem, Junaid Teli added that we have seen in the past that whenever the difference in WHT is more than one percent on commercial imports v/s industrial import, majority imports of polyester filament yarn shift towards industrial imports which leads to corruption and misuse of this facility and to the exchequer.
They further said that polyester filament yarn falls under the category of raw materials (SRO 1125) and in the previous budget FY 2021-22, the government imposed WHT at import stage one percent for industrial importers and two percent on commercial. However, in the federal budget 2022-23, the government has kept WHT at one percent for industrial imports falling under SRO 1125 whereas commercial importers shall be charged WHT at 3.5 percent with MTR and at 4 percent with FTR. Polyester filament yarn tariff already exists in the cascading system of polyester value chain and it is already on the higher side.
Saqib Naseem, Junaid Teli urged Minister for Finance & Revenue, Miftah Ismail to kindly continue with two percent WHT with FTR on commercial imports on items falling under SRO 1125. Furthermore, in view of information from reliable sources, it has been learned that the government may impose ACD & RD on polyester filament yarn (HS Code: 5402.3300, 5402.4600, 5402.4700 & 5402.5200).
Since these are basic raw materials of the textile industry, therefore we are requesting you not to impose any ACD and RD on these HS Codes. We would also request you to rationalize Customs duty tariff of Poy (5402.4600) & Polyester Filament Drawn Yarn (PFDY) at seven percent instead of present 11 percent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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