October 28, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 15, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 27: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has called upon the government to allow import of medium staple cotton from all land routes including Wahga to meet the shortage of silver fibre in the wake of sharp reduction in cotton production in the country.

In a statement on Saturday an Aptma spokesman said the revised production estimates, down from earlier estimates of 14.14 million bales to 12.8 million bales, announced by the ministry of agriculture has caused panic in the textile sector.Cotton prices have risen by Rs250 to 300 per maund creating unprecedented price hike at the time of peak cotton season, he added.

He said the textile industry being one of the major stakeholders is already under serious threat of closing down and is apprehensive of the raw material shortage.

It will have a grave impact on the entire textile value chain if this sector is now deprived of access to raw material (cotton and PSF) at competitive prices, he added.

The textile industry is already suffering on account of rise in interest rates and electricity costs, and cannot further sustain unreasonable hike in the prices of its primary raw materials, he added.

The spokesman called upon the government to allow import of medium staple cotton from all land routes including Wahga to meet the supply demand gap.

He also called for abolishing 6.5% import duty on polyester staple fibre to bring relief in the PSF prices and address the core issue of introduction of BT Cotton production technology. —APP