LAHORE: The textile industry on Friday warned the government that exports will fall further if import and regulatory duties on cotton import are not withdrawn and textile millers are not paid their sales tax refunds.

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) said exports for July 2016 have dropped by $101million as compared to July 2015 while imports have jumped to $209m, thus increasing trade deficit to around $318m for a single month.

Address a press conference, Aptma Punjab chairman Sheikh Aamir Fayyaz said there were fears that local cotton crop will be less in the ongoing fiscal year. He urged the government to withdraw duties on cotton to avoid additional input cost of value-added goods and compete with other countries.

Mr Fayyaz further said remittances had also dropped by 20 per cent or $300m in July 2016 against the corresponding month of 2015.

He lamented the federal ministries concerned had failed to address the core demands of the industry which include implementing zero-rating of five exports sectors, sales tax refunds worth Rs200 billion, withdrawal of electricity and gas surcharges and provision of Long Term Financing for textile machinery.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2016