FAISALABAD, Nov 20: Textile quota exports worth over Rs100 million are being lost owing to refusal of the Export Promotion Bureau to issue visas to exporters, and if no immediate remedial measures are taken , the country's exports will suffer heavily at this crucial juncture of quota phase-out.

This was stated by Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Chairman Faiq Jawed in an SOS to the Prime Minister here on Saturday.

Elaborating, the PTEA chairman said the EPB had notified restraint on the issuance of visa to the US in bedlinen quota categories 360, 361, 666 (P+S) due to high-level of fill rate and strong probability of embargo in these categories. "It was not understandable how the fill rate in these categories has gone so high even when there was quota still pending in the category pass books (CPBs) of the exporters," he asked.

He said the issuance of quota visas and shipments was strictly monitored by the EPB and its auditors, and the exporters of these categories after deliberation in an emergent meeting of the association made certain suggestions to the government to cope with the new development, he added.

The exporters have demanded that goods that are in transit and visas issued by the EPB to the exporters must get cleared at US ports. For this purpose a high-level intervention is required to clear the goods.

"In case these goods cannot be cleared and are held up at the US ports then the EPB (visa issuing authority) should pay the cost of bringing back these held up consignments and pay air freight of these goods to the stakeholders to be shipped by air in the first week of 2005," he said.

"For the quantity of quota of these categories, which is still pending in the CPBs of exporters and for which the exporters have been stopped from making shipment and are being denied issuance of visa, the EPB should pay the cost of that quota to our stakeholders. For goods, which have been manufactured and are ready for shipment but have been stopped, blocked and denied issuance of visa, the EPB should compensate the exporters by paying them the cost of goods and or if the buyers accept shipment on January 1, 2005, the EPB should pay the cost of air freight," he concluded.