MULTAN, May 28: The Pakistan Open End Spinners Association has demanded abolition of 25 per cent duty on import of cotton waste.

Speaking at a press conference, association chairman Chaudhry Tassadaq Rasool further demanded that the government should ban the export of cotton waste so that the country could earn more foreign exchange by exporting value-added products made of the local raw material.

He said that ring spinning units were once used to dispose of their waste uselessly but with the advent of open end spinning in the country a decade ago, the cotton waste became a useful raw material to produce coarse yarn.

"Now the open end spinning has become a flourishing industry in the country as the leading supplier of coarse count yarn ranging from 1.5/s to 24/s," he added. He says the open end spinning industry contributes Rs2014 million per annum as a bill against power consumption.

He said the sales value of yarn produced in a year by the open end spinning units was calculated at Rs13,000 million and the industry paid a sales tax of Rs2,000 million per annum to the national exchequer.

Mr Chaudhry said that the industry had enabled the country to earn $1 billion foreign exchange per annum on the export of finished goods made of coarse yarn.

The coarse yarn of lower counts is generally used in non-wearing finished goods like tents, canvas, traupline, towels, socks, bags and sacks, bedwear, kitchen aprens, ropes, mops, dusters, bath mats, cushions, camping accessories, curtain and sofa cloths.

He said but the flourishing open end spinning industry was now bound to be doomed owing to high-priced cotton waste and some irrational government taxation. He pointed out that this year cotton waste was short by 3,000m kilograms against its demand and, hence, the ring spinners had raised the price.

He said cotton waste importers had to pay 25 per cent customs duty and 15 per cent sales tax, while there was no duty on import of raw cotton. He said the exorbitant rates of cotton waste would push the open end spinning units to closure and subsequently the allied industries would also suffer. "The situation will affect the overall exports of the country," he added.