KPTMA Urges Authorities To Waive Off Demurrage Charges

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) has urged the authorities concerned to waive off demurrage charges of consignments stuck at ports for clearance

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2023 ):Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) has urged the authorities concerned to waive off demurrage charges of consignments stuck at ports for clearance.

KPTMA Chairman Afan Aziz, in a statement issued here on Monday, said the spinning textile mills in KP had been facing significant difficulties due to the non-availability of foreign exchange in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and commercial banks, resulting in a significant number of consignments being stuck at ports for clearance.

He said that delay in clearance was causing a financial burden on the mills as they were being charged huge amounts of demurrage and container detention charges by the relevant port authorities, container terminal companies, and shipping companies.

In this connection, he said, KPTMA had also written letters to the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs and the Ministry of Finance requesting a waiver of demurrage charges and seeking prompt support in directing the SBP and commercial banks to assist the mills in retiring existing letters of credit of USD 10 million and establishing new ones for importing essential raw materials.

Aziz also praised the SBP's circular dated December 27, 2022, which relaxed import restrictions on export-oriented sector imports, and said that spinning mills qualify for import relief as they were an export-oriented sector.

He also emphasised that spinning mills convert imports into exports and generate valuable foreign currency exchange, and highlighted that the export-oriented sector brought in a record-high foreign exchange of USD 19.33 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22.