Distress: PHMA cries foul over import of Indian fabric

Says product is entering market via Dubai, asks FBR to ban influx

KARACHI: In a bid to salvage the local fabric industry, the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) on Monday urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ban  import of fabric from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The unbridled import of fabric from UAE, though there are no manufacturing units of fabric in the country, is adversely hurting the local industry. This is all Indian fabric which is being imported in Pakistan via Dubai,” according to the PHMA letter that it wrote to Chairman FBR Nisar Muhammad Khan.

“The government should investigate the Indian fabric trade from UAE and should demand that UAE’s exporters  produce the Certificate of Origin of the fabric that is imported in Pakistan,” PHMA Chief Coordinator Jawed Bilwani said in the letter.

For the survival of the local industry, the government should ban the import of fabric from UAE as there are no manufacturing units of fabric in UAE. This will save large numbers of weaving units in Pakistan that are currently non-functional or about to close down due to rampant import of Indian fabric, the letter added.

Value-added textile sector has been clashing with the FBR because of the non-issuance of custom rebate claims of exporters that have been held for over a and a half years.

Exporters say the soaring rebate and refund claims have made it impossible for them to meet their foreign commitments due to severe liquidity crisis.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2016.

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