Sharply reacting on the statement of Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir that the government would remove 10 percent Regulatory Duties (RD) on fine yarn, local textile millers, industrialists, spinners have demanded at least 25 percent regulatory duty on the import of Indian yarn. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Khawaja Muhammad Usman a spokesman for MCCI categorically denied the claim of the commerce minister that APTMA was asking for removal of the duty.
Usman has demanded imposition of 25 percent regulatory duty on the import of subsidised fine count cotton yarn, particularly from India.
However, he made it clear that imports under the duty and tax remission for export (DTRE) system or the manufacturing bond should be exempted from the regulatory duty, as the association believes in a free market mechanism.
He said the regulatory duty should be exclusively meant for the domestic industry. He pointed out that the Indian textile industry's experts have analysed the impact of subsidy on the production of fine count cotton yarn in the state of Gujarat. Indian manufacturers get a subsidy of Rs 26.72 per kg in the form of lower interest rate, value-added tax benefit, duty exemption on electricity bills, reduced transportation cost of cotton and yarn and power cost besides central subsidies.
The total value comes to around Rs120 million per annum for a mill of 25,000 spindles, the analysis reveals. Import data of the first six months of the current fiscal year suggests that 3,000 tons per month is entering Pakistan from India. About 90% of imports originate from India, which is extending unstructured rebate to its manufacturers. He expressed his concern regarding undue delay in announcement of Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF 2015-18).
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