KARACHI: Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) on Saturday warned the government that the imposition of a five per cent regulatory duty (RD) on the import of polyester filament yarn would devastate 800,000 power looms and render millions of people jobless.

The association held a protest at the Karachi Press Club and rejected the Econ­omic Coordination Commit­tee’s (ECC) decision of levying RD the primary raw material of the textile industry.

PYMA Senior Vice Chairman Sohail Nisar urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to suspend the ECC decision and save the textile-based small and medium enterprises from destruction.

The PYMA leadership pointed out that polyester filament yarn is already subject to income tax, sales tax, additional sales tax and even anti-dumping duty. Combined, about 50-55pc taxes are paid on imported raw material yet it was cheaper than yarn produced by two local manufacturers.

Yarn merchants said the increase in RD would benefit only two producers thus hitting SMEs badly, especially power looms. These two producers barely meet 25pc of the industry’s demand. The textile industry depends on 75pc of imported yarn.

PYMA leaders warned of continuing their protest until the decision is withdrawn. They claimed that power loom owners of Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Adam, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Pakistan Art Silk Factories of Gujranwala were also protesting.

They said the National Tariff Commission (NTC) had sent its recommendations to the ECC without any consultation with the stakeholders. The NTC must listen to PYMA and decide in consultation with the stakeholders.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2022