All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman Tariq Saud has urged the government to immediately impose a 15 per cent Regulatory Duty on the import of man-made fibres (MMF), particularly polyester viscose yarn, polyester cotton yarn and pure polyester yarn. In a statement, he said an emergency meeting of the member mills was held at the Punjab office of the Association to review the import statistics of the MMF for domestic consumption, which has increased by four times in last four years and likely to reach to 57,000 tonnes per annum by the end of 2015-16. He said the surge in the import of MMF yarns has become a matter of serious concern for the domestic industry and poses a serious threat to the survival of about two million spindles with over three million direct and indirect workforce associated with this industry. Saud claimed the textile industry had been requesting the government to impose 15 per cent Regulatory Duty on the import of all MMF yarns. “An unchecked import of yarns has hit the viability of the domestic spinning yarn industry, which is also threatening the survival of domestic PSF producers and the PTA industry by and large,” he said. “Both the upstream and downstream industries as well as millions of direct and indirect jobs are under threat and needs immediate intervention by the government,” he added.
