LAHORE, May 16: Local polyester fibre (PSF) manufacturers are charging far higher prices than its international rates, says All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman Arif Saeed. Speaking to reporters on Monday, he said the local PSF was available for Rs97/kg against Rs82/kg of imported fibre. He said the local PSF producers had made a cartel to fleece textile mills as they knew the decision to import synthetic fibre was difficult for them. “The day we import PSF, the local producers would bring down their price to Rs81/kg.” He said the rates had been enhanced on the pretext of higher petrochemical prices.

Mr Saeed said the TCP had spent Rs200 per maund to ensure that farmers could get Rs50 per maund extra for their crop. He said the way the government had decided to subsidize and help the farmers had not worked well. “We believe that farmers should be given direct subsidy as was given by the other countries. The existing mechanism does not help the farmers. It helps only middlemen or ginners.”

He said the exporters had exported only 600,000 bales. “They did not take interest in export this year because of fear of rising cotton market due to the TCP intervention.” The Aptma chairman claimed that the cotton exporters could have exported at least one million bales of cotton by December last had the government not unleashed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan in the market to support the prices.

Mr Saeed demanded that the government should liberate “textile chain from the sales tax regime to ensure a sustainable growth of the sector”. He also called for ensuring zero-rated import of capital goods and machinery, duty-free import of raw materials, and an increased spending on infrastructure development to tackle the problem of exportable surplus in future.

He said the export of value-added textiles had grown manifold, which was an encouraging sign for the country. He said: “The value-added textile export could rise rapidly if the government decides to facilitate the sector in the coming budget.” The Aptma chief said the textile industry was expanding in a big way. He said the industry had opened L/Cs for the import of 1.4 million spindles during 2004 and the import during 2005 was projected to be close to 750,000-800,000 spindles. “Each of 300 spinning units in the country is expanding its capacity,” he said.