KARACHI, Dec 19: The exporters of bedlinen have lashed out at the government for mishandling the issue of textile quota with European Union (EU) which has resulted in initiation of anti-dumping proceeding by its commission.

Expressing their resentment and dismay over the development, most of the exporters were of the view that such an ugly situation could have been averted if the people at the helm of the affair took serious notice of the developments which had been evolving for over the last six months.

“I must say that our policy makers are not far-sighted and only look for short term gains while tailoring their plans and objectives,” lamented ex-chairman Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA) Shabir Ahmed.

The incumbent chairman of PBEA Aziz Jamal said that it is unfortunate that a situation which could have been averted, if the government had applied some tactical moves at a political level. Since it has failed to do so, the EU’s concessions given in the form of market access and tariff relief are at stake in a period of less than a year.

He urged upon the new minister for commerce to take up the matter on war footing and use the two weeks time, before the regular hearing starts, to correct the situation.

Shabir Ahmed said had the government took seriously his suggestion, given about six months back, to purchase some of aircraft from the EU for the national airlines the country would not have faced such a situation which is going to have a far reaching consequences on country’s exports, particularly in the period beyond 2005, when textile quotas will not be there.

He said the market access and customs tariff concession given by the EU in February this year were helping exporters to capture European countries markets, which would have otherwise been difficult in normal market conditions.

This could have helped the exporters to retain these markets beyond year 2005, and in other words they would have started the free market era with an edge over their competitors from India, China and other countries, he added.

The former PBEA chairman was also highly critical of the government policy of allowing the rupee to keep appreciating at the cost of exports and said again it is a short-sighted policy which is only focused on boosting the reserves.

Many countries are presently either striving to hold their currencies at current levels or have even lowered them down against the dollar in order to keep their exports competitive in the world market, he said. Take the example of China and Brazil they have even depreciated their currencies so that their exporters could keep their hold over world markets held by them.

He said if the EC imposes punitive duty on bedlinen imports the tariff concession will also be withdrawn and this is going to be a great setback for exports to European countries. The impact of such a decision will also have a negative reflection on non- quota items where such tariff concessions could also be withdrawn, he maintained.

However, Shabir Ahmed was also critical of EU approach towards the issue and said it seems they took the decision in a haste and without realizing its impact.

He also raised a point that EU had to withdraw anti-dumping duty on bedlinen in October last year as the EU Commission did not find any evidence of dumping from our exporters into European market.