MULTAN City News

Ginners against waiving off duty, tax on Indian cotton

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association has opposed proposal regarding waiving off duty and tax on import of cotton from India.

In a statement here on Thursday, PCGA chairman Nawab Shahzad Ali Khan said that regulatory duty, sales tax and customs duty on import of cotton should not be withdrawn and it must continue for survival of local farmers and ginners. He said that if tax and duty were waived off on import of cotton from India then it would be detrimental to local growers and ginners whose 1.5 million bales were lying in unsold stock. He suggested that the government should wait till the disposal of unsold cotton stock. He said that India had been a major beneficiary of duty-free import of cotton yarn by Pakistan for about four years, which had badly hit the domestic industry and agriculture sector of the country. He said that there would be a huge loss of the cash crop if the farmers shifted to other crops.