KARACHI: Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), Hanif Lakhany has urged Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser on Trade & Investment to PM to fulfil his promise for removal of additional customs duty and regulatory duty (ACD & RD) on synthetic yarns, which is the raw material of the textile industry.

He said that the government should play a role in providing raw materials to the textile industry at reasonable prices, otherwise Prime Minister Imran Khan’s dream of industrial & economic development will never come true.

Hanif Lakhani appealed to Trade and Investment Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood, saying that last year the government had announced the abolition of additional customs duty and regulation on industrial raw materials, but ACD & RD on synthetic yarns were not abolished, so immediately remove these barriers for reducing the production cost and also justify the cascading system of polyester value chain. But even after a long wait, the prime minister’s adviser has not kept his promise, which is a matter of grave concern to textile exporters and importers.

Farhan Ashrafi, Vice Chairman PYMA, pointed out that due to the continuous rise in prices of raw materials of the textile industry and shortage of cotton, the production cost of industries has gone up and exporters were facing losses due to higher production costs against export orders. He said due to the monopoly of two local manufacturers, anti-dumping duty is already imposed on synthetic yarns.

Therefore, in order to ensure the supply of cheap raw materials to the textile industry and importers, it has become imperative that the additional customs duty & regulatory duty on synthetic yarns be abolished immediately and justify the cascading system.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021