APTMA For Timely Clearance Of Cotton Bales From Karachi Port

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) chairman Hamid Zaman on Thursday demanded of the government to allow timely clearance of imported cotton which had already been reached at Karachi Port

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jan, 2023 ):All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) chairman Hamid Zaman on Thursday demanded of the government to allow timely clearance of imported cotton which had already been reached at Karachi Port.

In a discussion programme of Lahore Economic Journalist Association (LEJA) here at APTMA House, he added that proper measures should be taken for timely clearance of textile consignments.

In his opening note, LEJA President Sudhir Chaudhry elaborated the objective of the Discussion Programmes with the stakeholders. APTMA Senior Vice Chairman Kamran Arshad, Vice Chairman Asad Shafi were also present.

Zaman argued that textile industry would fail to achieve the export target of USD 25 billion this year due to non-availability of raw materials, mainly the raw cotton. He said this year textile exports would be limited to 16 or 17 billion dollars.

Hamid Zaman mentioned, "The textile industry imports raw cotton and after value addition, exports it at four times to the imported value. Thus, the government should allow exporters to import 35 percent of the export value, but if things are not controlled, seven million people associated with the textile industry would be rendered unemployed this month."

The industry had raw material stock of only two months, and if timely clearance of already arrived cotton was not started from the port, the entire textile industry would close down by March end, thus leaving 25 million individuals jobless, he added.

A number of textile units in Punjab, KPK and Sindh had already been completely or partially closed. The industry had so far ordered 1.7 million bales of cotton from US, out of which 0.531 million cotton bales dispatched from US and 100,000 bales worth US $ 300 million had so far arrived at Karachi port, he added.

The APTMA Chairman said the government needed to instruct the commercial banks and State Bank of Pakistan for timely clearance of Letters of Credit (LCs) of the cotton bales importers to avoid any export crisis.

Responding to the questions, Zaman admitted that some exporters did not bring back their export amount back to Pakistan due to instability of exchange rate. Further, he suggested the government should take action against those hoarding dollars illegally and assured that APTMA would not support such people.

Zaman claimed that demurrage and detention charges on imported goods had exceeded the value of goods that foreign companies had to pay. So far, Rs 2 billion of demurrage and detention charges had been charged.

Senior Vice Chairman Kamran Arshad said that there was shortage of raw cotton in the local market as country produced only 4.6 million cotton bales this year. He mentioned that 15 million cotton bales were required to achieve USD 20 billion exports.