APTMA demands 15% regulatory duty

Subsidised imports from India hurting local industry.

LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman SM Tanveer has demanded imposition of 15% regulatory duty on the import of subsidised fine count cotton yarn, particularly from India.

However, he made it clear that imports under the duty and tax remission for export (DTRE) system or the manufacturing bond should be exempted from the regulatory duty, as the association believes in a free market mechanism.

He said the regulatory duty should be exclusively meant for the domestic industry.

He pointed out that the Indian textile industry experts have analysed the impact of subsidy on the production of fine count cotton yarn in the state of Gujarat. Indian manufacturers get a subsidy of Rs26.72 per kg in the form of lower interest rate, value-added tax benefit, duty exemption on electricity bills, reduced transportation cost of cotton and yarn and power cost besides central subsidies.

The total value comes to around Rs120 million per annum for a mill of 25,000 spindles, the analysis reveals.

Tanveer added that annual import of fine count cotton yarn from India reached 30,000 tons in 2014 against 6,500 tons in 2012.

Import data of the first six months of the current fiscal year suggests that 3,000 tons per month is entering Pakistan from India. About 90% of imports originate from India, which is extending unstructured rebate to its manufacturers.

According to him, India is capturing Pakistan’s domestic market by design, as the end product of fine count cotton yarn is meant for domestic consumption. Pakistan’s 30 mills have a production capacity of 6,000 tons per month while India is dumping subsidised 3,000 tons on an average.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th,  2015.

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