February 21, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 19, 1423

KARACHI, Feb 20: The exporters that were prevented from shipping their consignments against their regular textile quotas last year, were again denied adjustment this year despite assurance by the ministry of commerce (MoC), official sources said.

The over-programming in the European Union (EU) quota last year resulted in embargo from the European Commission (EC) on major categories, including No 6 (shorts and pants) No 9 (towels) and No 20 (bedlinen).

Consequently, the MoC in a haste disallowed further shipments in many categories, including from those of regular quotas but assured exporters to compensate them through adjustment in next year’s quota.

However, the situation took ugly turn when exporters approached the MoC for the adjustment but they were denied the facility without assigning any reason, the sources said.

The chairman, Quota Supervisory Council (QSC), Aziz Memon under the pressure from exporters on Wednesday (Feb 19) took a five member QSC delegation and held a meeting with the minister for commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan.

But this meeting also ended in a fiasco as the Minister for Commerce who was being assisted by Additional and Deputy Secretaries Commerce rejected the plea of QSC chairman for allowing adjustment in quota, official sources disclosed here on Thursday.

Meanwhile, exporters are extremely perturbed over the refusal by the minister for granting the adjustment particularly when they were prevented from making shipment out of their regular quotas on the assurances of getting extra exports through adjustments from 2003 quota.

It is being strongly argued that when bilateral agreement and MoC’s own notices allow carryover of certain percentage of quotas into new year, then why the exporters are being denied by the minister this right, a leading textile exporter asserted.

Exporters have alleged that the MoC is directly responsible for mis-calculating the quotas and allowed over-programming last year, prior to getting special flexibility quota of 4000 tons from the EU. This has all, resulted out of wrong entries of export visas by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), they added.

Due to wrong entries even today US customs are checking the shipments of category 306, 361, 666S and 666P and are now insisting upon EPB for installing of ELVIS computer system for reconciliation of quota statements.

It had been the demand of textile trade bodies that auction and over-programming quotas may be made non-transferable, and the QSC had time and again conveyed this message to the ministry of commerce but to no avail.

Having left with no option, exporters now find themselves in disarray particularly when the QSC has failed to deliver the goods. Now adding to this situation the MoC has also started to take less care of exporters’ problems, another exporter said.

It is being generally felt that the new commerce minister is not informed about the intricacies of textile quotas, which is a highly technical subject and has to rely on the advice of bureaucracy.