Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) urge government to save polyester filament fabric industry from further disaster. In this regard, PYMA has issued an SOS (distress call) to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan and Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Revenue Haroon Akhter.

Danish Hanif, chairman PYMA (Sindh-Balochistan Zone), in the ‘SOS’ stated that around 300,000 looms and knitting machines have suspended operations during the last five years, resulting in directly and indirectly affecting a total of around 5 million people.

The inefficient and outdated domestic polyester filament yarn (PFY) industry does not meet even 25 percent of the total demand of Pakistan. The PFY attracts 12 percent custom duty versus polyester fibre, which attracts only 7 percent custom duty whereas the raw material and the quantity input to produce both are exactly the same.

According to the statement, polyester fiber is consumed by corporate sector versus polyester yarn in small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. In addition, local polyester staple fibre (PSF) production is enough to suffice Pakistan’s requirement, whereas production of polyester yarn is only 25 percent of the required quantity for Pakistan, still import duty of the PFY is at 12 percent compared to polyester fiber at 7 percent.

They appeal to the concerned authorities to reduce custom duty on polyester filament yarns (P-FDY and P-DTY) (Chapter 54) from 12 percent to 7 percent and impose no further duty in any form.

PYMA added that the ongoing Anti-Dumping Investigation on polyester filament yarn (PFDY/PDTY), which is a basic raw material for the polyester fabric is totally unjustified. The user industry would be unnecessarily penalized even for those products, which are not produced by the domestic industry. As a result, the cost for the end user would increase substantially and that would affect the weaving and knitting industry.