Aptma for removal of import duty on PSF

LAHORE - All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has urged the government to remove import duty of 4.5 per cent on Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF) in budget 2009-10 besides setting aside the import restrictions, burdening the local industry heavily.
According to a press release reached here Monday, the APTMA said that in the year 2008 - 09, the customs duty on import of PSF was fixed at 4.5% whereas PSF was allowed to be imported in the 'duty and tax remission for export (DTRE) scheme.
It may be noted that the local textile industry is running short of PSF, leading to a situation where PSF is not being made available even on cash payment terms.
In addition, many Man Made Fibre (MMF) including Viscos, Modal, Acrylic and Tensil etc are also being protected despite the fact that no domestic manufacturing is being made. An import duty of 6 - 6.5% is imposed by the government on other MMF, again hampering the growth of textile value chain.
During the current fiscal, the production of PSF was curtailed in the country due to the closure of a local PSF manufacturing unit, for reasons other than the dynamics of the business of PSF. This has created a shortage in the domestic market.
The crisis in the textile industry has been aggravated by the reluctance of banks in Pakistan to extend financial services to many spinning mills and especially to establish letter of credits for imports of PSF. This has led to a further scarcity of PSF in the domestic market and uncalled for raise of sale price by domestic manufacturers significantly higher than landed cost of imported material in spite of high incidence of duties and incidental expenses.
The APTMA said the government should remove these supply-side constraints in next budget to make the textile industry viable in Pakistan.