PRGMEA demands to abolish duties on yarn import

Chief Coordinator Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Ijaz A Khokhar on Friday said that apparel industry is suffering with low productivity due to shortage of cotton yarn, high energy cost and heavy import duties on raw material.

Talking to media he appealed the government to abolish duties on yarn imports for encourage value addition, reduce cost of doing business and bridging gap between production and consumption. Government should allow the industry to import cotton from other countries to fulfilling the demands of foreign buyers, he said.

Ijaz said that garments sector had great potential and ability to enhance 50 per cent export and this sector widen the scope of generating employment in the country.

He said that government should make necessary arrangements for reviewing export activities on quarterly basis adding that this process would help government to monitor pace of exports of the country.

Ijaz said that while preparing trade policy 2018-23, formulation of sector and regional wise policies should be consider adding that concerned high ups should consult stakeholders for formulating regional and sector wise policy.

The formulation of sector wise policies particularly regional based policies would not only help in increasing exports but also supportive in minimizing the problems confronted by the business community, he added.

Ijaz said that due to non-availability of latest fabric locally garments sector currently have a limited product line for export market adding that foreign buyers were demanding new garments on G3, G4 and technical fabric raw material which were not available and produced by Pakistani weavers so far.

He said that there was a great need of setting up "Sector Specific Export Promotion Councils" for all export sectors to enhance exports of the country.

The PRGMEA Chief Coordinator said that there was a great need of setting up "Garment Export Promotion" for monitor production and export performance and formulate appropriate policy for Textile apparel sector.