Withdrawal of duty on the import of raw cotton to run more than 400 textile mills- M.Anees Khawaja

MULTAN, Muhammad Anees Khawaja, former president of DGCCI and a representative of APTMA  for South Punjab has endorsed the stance of APTMA regarding withdrawal of duty on the import of raw cotton to run more than 400 textile mills because Pakistan had produced 40 percent less cotton than requirement.Anees Khawaja has expressed great concern over the callous attitude of the government in increasing the duty on import of raw cotton from 2% to 3% which along with the additional duty of 1% has increased the incidence of total import duty to 4%.This at a time when the textile industry is reeling from the effects of a total crop failure in the country. Production of cotton declined by almost 35%,he added. He said that APTMA has been pleading with the government to totally remove import duty on cotton so that the textile industry can operate in an efficient manner. But instead of accepting reality, they have chosen to increase duty and further exacerbate the industry's plight.It is not possible for the textile industry to continue to operate in these conditions and contribute to higher exports and provision of yarn to the domestic downstream if they are made to pay such exorbitant amount of duty on its basic raw material. Khawaja said  Pakistan has become a net importer of raw cotton and even then the textile industry is trying to remain competitive while contributing to the national exchequer as well provide millions of jobs. But if they have to import over 3 million bales due to crop failures then import duty must be abolished.