20000329

Baghpatee asks

govt to restrict

yarn export to

15,000 tonnes a month

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Tajir Action Committee Convenor, Imran Saeed Baghpatee, has demanded quantitative curb on yarn exports not exceeding 15,000 tonnes per month and imposition of 10 percent export duty on all counts.

He pointed out that despite having a bumper cotton crop the growers could not earn and neither could the value-added textile industry.

He alleged that the spinners and ginners, on the other hand, made wind-fall profits at the cost of growers and textile ancillary industry.

The growers, he said, had been given a very low price ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 850 per maund, while yarn prices had jumped to the 1997-98 level when cotton prices were Rs 2,700 per maund.

The Bureau of Statistics, Baghpatee said, had revealed that cotton yarn worth 878.34 million dollars was exported during the last eight months Ñ an increase of 13.09 percent Ñ but the quantity exported during the period jumped by 21.41 percent.

He urged the government not to allow free import of cotton yarn to ensure the survival of value-added textile industry.