05 December 2004	Sunday	22 Shawwal 1425

KARACHI, Dec 4: Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) has asked the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) to immediately correct the situation of mismanaged quotas by giving priority to those exporters who have shipped their consignments by November 30, 2004 and the leftover quantity be given on pro rata basis.

Addressing a press conference PHMA (central) Chairman Aslam Ahmed Karsaz and Chairman (Sindh-Balochistan zone) Sultan Ahmed asserted that in case the EPB did not adhere to their genuine demand the association would be left with no choice but to seek justice by knocking the door of court of law to protect the interest of its members.

Largely assembled PHMA members narrated long stories of their plight and suffering and some said that they had already shipped their goods but had been denied quota and the US Customs would not allow clearance of their goods.

Others said that their consignments had already reached Dubai for onward shipment to US and now they found themselves in a fix what to do because heavy production and freight costs had already been incurred. An exporter said that his container was lying on the port but in case of not getting the quota he would have to withdraw the same and lose his buyer as well as suffer heavy cost.

Responding to a question Aslam Ahmed Karsaz said that out of 700 PHMA members around 300 would be affected because as of today few exporters had cornered quotas. He also released the list of those exporters and the quantities they managed to pocket at the cost of small and medium size exporters.

Seeking early rectification of the situation he asked the EPB to ensure quota visas to those exporters who had already shipped their consignments up to Nov 30, 2004. Secondly, the balance quantity should be given only on pro rata basis fixing November 22, 2004 the date on which there quota existed in Category Passbooks (CPBs) of such exporters. Finally, he said, whatever quantity was left over in the CPBs of exporters, such exporters should be given compensation at 2003 quota auction rate and to airlift the goods free of cost.

Giving some details about PHMA meetings with different officials at the EPB and the Ministry of Commerce Mr Aslam said on November 22 in a long discussion with EPB it was finally proposed by the Quota Supervisory Council (QSC) that only 45 per cent of the balance quota in the CPBs could be shipped because of the fact that 0.89 million dozens were over allocated than the actual adjusted ceiling.

However, PHMA chairman on this occasion suggested 40 per cent of the available quota in the CPBs should be allowed to ship across the board. He said the benefit of this action would have been that none of the exporters' cargo would have been put under embargo at US ports and at least 40 per cent of their committed goods would reach their customers.

After agreeing that 40 per cent of the available quota would be allowed the EPB vice-chairman directed for the issuance of public notice but to their utter dismay next day it was not released as some exporters with vested interests stopped its release. He further said similar suggestions were forwarded to the commerce minister in Islamabad in a meeting held on November 24. But again this was also sabotaged by 'chummy exporters' and the suggestion never saw the day light.

Contrary to all understandings and suggestion the EPB on November 29 issued a public notice with a dateline of November 27, 2004, in the print media. The notice was related to over shipment in US categories and pre-shipment condition for shipment in category 338 wherein EPB informed that EPB would issue pre-shipment certificates to exporters which will be valid for 15 days against 4 per cent security deposit. But till then the EPB did not provided the format for meeting the pre-shipment conditions.

As a result of this when small exporters were busy in fulfilling these conditions some of the 'chummy exporters' who may have inside information cornered the entire quota leaving nothing for them. Similarly, the scheme of airlifting of the consignments of those exporters who could not ship their goods to the USA in the embargoed categories details and mechanism was still awaited, he added.