“Federal Minister for Textile Rana Muhammad
Farooq Saeed Khan chaired a meeting with the stakeholders of the
industry to decide about the regulatory duty on yarn, which would end on
July 26 if not extended. ..No decision was taken in the meeting,
but a meeting to be held by the end of the week would taka a final
decision, said a source. ..Opposing the continuation of regulatory
duty, APTMA leaders demanded there should be free market mechanism.
They said any continuation of the regulatory duty would be unfair to
them. ..Zubair Motiwalla, leader of the value-added sector, said
the country should determine its consumption before exporting the raw
material. Once local demand is met, the value added sector would have no
objection to export of surplus yarn or cotton, he said. He demanded
that the regulatory duty should continue for two more months after which
a clear picture of the cotton crop would be available. ..Ijaz
Khokhar, former PRGMEA chairman, told the meeting that readymade garment
exporters were uncertain of their future as raw material continued to
be exported. He said the readymade garments sector comprised mostly of
small and medium enterprises SMEs), who had run out of finances. ..Representatives
of the value added textile sector said if they earned good prices after
value addition, everyone would benefit including growers, ginners and
spinners. However, export of cotton and yarn would bring no revolution,
they said. ..All stakeholders agreed that growers should get the
benefit of increasing prices. They sold their cottonseed at Rs3,000 to
Rs3,200 per maund, but lint was sold for up to Rs8,000. ..Sources
said the body language of spinners showed they still had reservations
about the Federal Minister of Textile. During last financial year, they
had boycotted the textile ministry on the plea that the federal minister
supported the value added sector. Former federal minister Jehangir
Tarin represented growers. Minister for Agriculture and Food Nazar
Muhammad Gondal also attended the meeting. —Shahid Shah”
Date:7/20/2010
Source:www.cotton247.com