Addressing a press conference on 14th of April 2017 at APTMA house Lahore, the leading associations of the textile industry demanded federal government to take steps for the revival of textile industry.
The issues were addressed in a joint press conference of the leadership of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA), All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA), Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA), Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) and Towel Manufacturers Association (TMA) held on Friday.
On occasion, the associations demanded the payment of the refunds, the dusty drawbacks against the exports and the energy prices in order to help the industry perform better and compete with the other contestants from the region. Also demanded was the reimbursement of duty drawback amount under the Prime Minister’s “Export-led Growth package” announced on Jan 10, 2017, should be immediately made to the claimants and all future payments be timely made to the manufacturer’s cum exporters on the realization of export proceeds. Also demanded was the withdrawal of the FBR directives to roll the RPOs and enabling an immediate payment of the outstanding sales tax refunds.
The presenters, on behalf of the industry, also demanded a uniform energy prices across the country in order to eliminate any kind of disparity in energy prices for the industry. Proposed was that five exporting sectors being zero-rated by the FBR should be also zero-rated from surcharges of Rs. 3.63 including TR, FC & NJ surcharge to bring the tariff in line with the regional competitors. Electricity tariff should not be more than Rs.7/kWh and the RLNG should be merged with the system gas to arrive at the weighted average cost of gas (WACOG) in order to provide uniform pricing to the industry. The rate should not be more than Rs.600/MMBTU inclusive of GIDC which is closer to the rate of international competitors, it added.
