FREE TEXTILE IMPORTS
The newspapers are full of the conquest purportedly achieved by the Pakistan textile negotiating team of bureaucrats and Textile Associations’ leaders recently in Brussels. Quarter page advertisements and a plethora of commendatory press releases have highlighted the "great" victory. What did the Pakistani team give in
return for this "colossal" win in the textile exports from this country ?The negotiating team, which is generally the same every year, i.e., the mandarins of the Commerce Ministry and the same heads of "family-owned" textile associations, have been, this time, trapped by the skillful and competent negotiators of USA and European Union, in a
coup de grace.The import avenue of the textile sector has been open very wide with a conspicuous state-of-the-art neon-light billboard welcoming all the alien manufacturers of shoddy, third-rate, and cheap textiles to this Land of Milk, Honey, and Load-shedding !
"Wait a minute"’ the textile leaders will jump up and say. " We have not opened the doors for everybody, but only for manufacturers of certain categories like bikinis, and men dress suits, made by names such as Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and their ilk." Hogwash ! how many ladies in this Land of Pure will venture out on Sandspit in revealing two-piece bikinis ? How many people in Pakistan can afford a Armani ? Do these leaders really think that this is what’s gonna come into this country ? For crying out loud, get out of your ivory towers and the warm offices of your family-owned empires, these Textile Associations, and go to the bazars and see the mess made by imported fabrics and apparel..
What is eventually going to happen and which will be a death-knell for the nascent apparel industry and the fabrics manufacturers will be the obvious, apparent, and blatant misuse of this facility by unscrupulous smugglers and Custom authorities. Local textile industry will be in such a crisis that this country will not be able to fathom the consequences. It will be the beginning of end for the industry which is the back-bone of this country’s economy.
The fabric and apparel manufacturers can of course, fight to some extent. But, this all depends on a level playing field which the negotiators have not actually calculated when they chickened out on the negotiating table. How can they possibly comprehend fair competition between the imports and the domestic production if the locals will have no weapons or equipment to fight the battle ? What then are the weapons the local industry is looking for ?
First and foremost is the very exorbitant import duty on yarn. Here we are talking about specialized yarn, like certain types of filament yarn, superior quality of blended spun yarn and other fancy yarns. The present duty structure is playing havoc with the cost factor, ensuingly resulting in an expensive fabric, and naturally, apparel. This can be countered by a rationalization of the duties of imported yarn. The case is very simple and the Government has done the exercise. The duty should not be more than RS TEN PER KG. There should be no Sales Tax or other front-loading charges. This will be an adequate weapon for the domestic manufacturers to counter the expected onslaught of foreign material. THE DUTY ON YARN IMPORTS SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY REDUCED AND THERE SHOULD BE NO WAIT TILL JULY 1995 TO EFFECT THE REDUCTION PROCESS !
"Wait a minute", the Filament Yarn Manufacturers will wail. "We have invested billions in our 19 units. What will happen to us." Simple. Duty on PTA and polyester chips should be zero-rated. This is more than what they are asking for. Let them make hay while the sun shines.
The Pakistani consumer should get excellent fabrics and apparel. This is fundamental to all this cacophony. However, the trend in Pakistan is for the myopic importers to consistently find channels of loopholes in the scheme and locate sources to supply junk for the local market. The "
foreign-is-best" mentality precludes any pragmatic thinking or action. Junk or no junk, "it’s good if it’s foreign". has been the bane of this nation since 1947. The fault, of course, lies in the deeds of those policy-planners who had shaped their lives, minds, and attitudes, in total subservience to the foreign masters who ruled the roost for 150 dark years. Nothing much has changed in the hallowed halls of the Secretariat except the faces.Sincerely:
WALI O. TAPELO