In the wake of the devastating monsoon rainfall that has hit cotton fields The Pakistan Textile Exporters Association has requested the federal government for permission to allow an importation of cotton coming from India through Wagah to help meet the increasing export demands.
Exporters report that preliminary estimates suggest that 25 % of the cotton crop was damaged, and there was a possibility of a supply in this country.
Separately, in light of the flood-related losses suffered by the cotton harvest across Sindh and Punjab The federal government has on Wednesday set up an advisory committee that will discuss with seed companies and help them introduce the latest cotton seeds to the market local to them.
The decision was made at an event held at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to discuss with the stakeholders and look at proposals for increasing the production and size of cotton crop.
Exporters’ demand
“We have met with the Finance Minister Miftah Ismail to investigate one of our requests,” Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Patron in Chief Khurram Mukhtar told Dawn on Wednesday. He stated that the the actual calculation of demand for cotton will be done by September 15. “We could have to import 2.5 million bales of cotton from India,” he said in a statement, adding that this could be the only option that would have lower logistics costs.
Mr. Mukhtar claimed that the minister promised them that he will be willing to discuss the matter with coalition partners as well as other parties.
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This week, the Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that personally, he supported the idea of allowing the importation of vegetables that come from India in addition to stating that several international organizations have sought out Pakistan to bring foodstuffs from India in aid operations. But, the minister stated that the decision on this issue will be taken following consultation with the coalition partners.
In order to provide assistance to exporters of textiles, Mr. Mukhtar stated that the group has also raised the issue of refunds that are pending to the minister of finance in order to solve the problem of liquidity exporters.
The pending refunds for exporters to the Federal Board of Revenue stood at around Rs36 billion in deferred sales tax . 32,000 cases pending are expected to be paid in the upcoming time. The group demands improvements in the process of clearing the cases that are pending.
Cotton Seed
A meeting, chaired by the Minister in charge of National Food Security and Research, Tariq Bashir Cheema, was decided to push for seed companies to promote the cotton seed in Pakistan.
Mr. Cheema claimed that the latest seeds will improve productivity. The industry can benefit by the exchange of technologies, adding the farmers would be enticed to plant more cotton by the incentive system.
