March 30, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 26, 1424

LAHORE, March 29: The government is seeking feedback from the stakeholders on the problems being faced by the textile mills as a result of high protective duty of 20 per cent on the imports of polyester staple fibre (PSF) as a consequence of the sovereign guarantee given to the ICI’s PTA plant.

“We have had a meeting with the ministers last week to discuss different proposals for the resolution of the problem that is one major factor discouraging the use of polyester staple fibre (PSF) and other manmade fibres by the local textile industry,” a senior All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) official told Dawn here on Saturday.

Aptma has long been demanding that the existing duty on PSF be brought down to five per cent. It says that a high import duty on PSF allowed the local manufacturers of the manmade fibre to raise their prices at their whims, making it impossible for the textile mills to compete in the international market.

The manufacturers of manmade fibres are said to have increased their prices by Rs20/kg in last two months. The decision to raise the PSF prices was always taken unilaterally that creates hell of a problem for the textile mills that use it as a raw material for their products, says the Aptma official.

“If the unilateral increase in the price is not checked by the government, several spinning mills would be forced to either shut down their operations or default (on their bank payments),” added he.

Aptma says the government is considering various proposals for finding a mechanism to honour its commitment with the ICI as well as to check the PSF prices to provide “us a level playing field to the local textile industry”. The Aptma officials asked the government to make a final decision on this issue during the next several weeks so that the existing duty on PSF imports could be rationalized in the budget for the next financial year.