MULTAN, March 7: All-Pakistan Bedsheets and Upholstery Manufacturers Association chairman Fazal Ahmed Sheikh has expressed fear that the country may not be able to achieve its foreign exchange target of $1.5 billion through bed-linen exports in the current fiscal year after the imposition of anti-dumping duty by the European Union.

In a press statement issued here on Sunday, he said the 13.1 per cent duty imposed by the EU on imports of bed-linen with effect from March 5 was a major setback for exports of the country.

He said the EU anti-dumping duty would not only affect the value-added item of bed-linen but the whole textile industry, which had already been feeling the effects of a 25 to 30 per cent increase in raw cotton and yarn prices.

The APBUMA chief said there was already a 10 per cent duty on Pakistani bed-linen and the anti-dumping duty would take the total volume of duty to 23.1 per cent, which would throw the Pakistani bed-linen out of the EU market once and for all.

The anti-dumping duty had been clamped for a period of five years, which would be used by India and Bangladesh to capture the European market, he said. He said the bed-linen exports had last year fetched a foreign exchange of $1.2 billion.

He urged the ministry of commerce to take up the issue with the EU leadership and also with the governments of some important countries of the union in order to convince them to withdraw the anti-dumping duty.

He claimed that the allegation of dumping would be found baseless if the EU re-examined the case after seeking fresh data from the leading bed-linen exporters of Pakistan.

He said the EU countries could be offered better access to Pakistani automobile, machinery and chemical markets in return for withdrawal of the anti-dumping duty.