LAHORE, Dec 8: The US buyers are said to be cancelling orders of knitted shirts (Cat-338) from Pakistan because of fears that exporters may not meet delivery schedules due to quota problems.

"Even the air shipments promised by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) are not certain," says Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA-North Zone) chairman Adil Butt.

"In fact, the EPB is adding to our problems," he said. He said the solution to the problem of delays in delivery of export orders lies in implementing the decisions taken by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar in a meeting held in the last week of November.

"Arrangements being made by the EPB do not take into account the crucial time factor. If timely arrangements are not ensured, we shall be big losers," Mr Butt insisted. He said if quota problems were not resolved appropriately, the exporters would lose the established markets besides incurring losses of millions of dollars.

He reminded the EPB that the decisions for Cat 338 taken in the Nov 24 meeting included capping of quota in the category pass books, permitting shipments up to 40 per cent of quota holdings and providing air freight for shipment of left-over consignments of 2004 from Jan 1-20, 2005 in addition to compensating exporters for quota auction price.

"These decisions were, however, changed without informing the stakeholders at the cost of the industry. The decisions seem to have been changed on personal whims of the commerce ministry and the EPB in total disregard of principles of fair play," Mr Butt said.

Mr Butt feared that the industry, already worried about satisfactory airlifting of the 2004 consignments in the first 20 days of January 2005 by the PIA because of lack of capacity to handle four million kilo cargo in such a short time, wanted that it should be left with the exporters to make arrangements for the same. "The mechanism for payment of freight by the EPB should be devised without loss of time."

He said the calculation of shippable quantity in Cat 338 was still doubtful because the US Customs website was showing a cushion of about eight per cent quantity and the knitwear sector might lose further if it were true.

He said the EPB should ensure fair play in this matter otherwise a large number of industrial units would close down.