RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The local cotton market on Monday remained bearish and volume improved a little bit.

Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman told Business Recorder the rate of cotton in Sindh is in between Rs 13000 to Rs 13200 per maund. The rate of cotton in Punjab is in between Rs 13600 to Rs 13700 per maund.

The rate of new crop of Phutti in Sindh was in between Rs 5700 to Rs 5900 per 40 kg. The rate of Phutti in Punjab is in between Rs 5500 to Rs 6300 per 40 kg. The rate of Banola in Sindh is in between Rs 1800 to Rs 1900 per maund. The rate of Banola in Punjab is in between Rs 1900 to Rs 2100 per maund. The rate of cotton in Balochistan is Rs 13300 per maund. The rate of Phutti in Balochistan is in between Rs 6000 to RS 6200 per maund.

800 bales of Kotri, 800 bales of Hyderabad were sold at Rs 13150 to RS 13250 per maund, 2400 bales of Sanghar, 1400 bales of Shahdad Pur were sold at Rs 13050 to Rs 13250 per maund, 200 bales of Tando Adam were sold at Rs 13150 to Rs 13250 per maund, 400 bales of Sahiwal were sold at RS 13900 per maund, 600 bales of Haroonabad were sold at Rs 13800 per maund, 200 bales of Hasil Pur, 100 bales of Mungi Bangla, and 600 bales of Chichawatni were sold at Rs 13700 per maund.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the real target for the country is to achieve sustainable growth in exports as sustainability in exports is the only recipe to cope with the economic miseries of Pakistan.

Addressing the members of Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) here, Abdul Razak Dawood said that country’s exports have witnessed highest ever 18% surge in FY 2020-21 despite adverse impacts of Covid-19 pandemic. World’s major economies shrunk mainly due to the deadliest Covid-19 waves, but it is Pakistan that showed tremendous performance in increasing the exports; whereas the regional competing economies of India and Bangladesh remained in the negative zone. All credit goes to our valued exporters who performed extremely well even in challenging times of pandemic. Responding to a question, he assured that Duty Drawback of Taxes (DDT) incentive will remain continue for textile exports; whereas Export Development Fund will be utilized for export promotion only. While quoting the example of jute industry, the Advisor built his argument saying that it was unattended, but the Government facilitated it and extended to it zero duty, which resulted in surge in exports of jute products. He stressed the need to focus on diversification and SME promotion as these two segments would lead Pakistan towards economic heights.

The Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue Faizullah Kamoka said that textile industry is the backbone of economy; whereas textile exporters are playing vital role in economic development of the country. Remedial measures to overcome the challenges are being taken to uplift this sector. Government, under the dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister Imran Khan, is imparting all possible facilities to the export sectors as it is playing a major role in bringing economic stability. No country could achieve economic targets without the due role of exporters; therefore, all-out efforts are being done to facilitate export industries. He assured that amendment in section 203A of the Income Tax Ordinance will be reversed.

Earlier, PTEA’s patron-in-chief Khurram Mukhtar commended the strenuous efforts of the Advisor Commerce & Investment for uplifting the country’s exports. He congratulated the Government on achieving highest ever export growth this year. He said that Pakistan can become an economic giant by utilizing its trade and investment potential. Lauding the sincere support of Chairman Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue Faizullah Kamoka, he said that he always voiced up our concerns at all levels and extend full support in resolving our issues.

Chairman PTEA Muhammad Ahmad, in his welcome address, commended Government’s policies and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s revolutionary steps to enhance exports. Later, the Advisor Commerce & Investment Abdul Razak Dawood inaugurated the newly established ECO section of PTTF Lab working under the aegis of Pakistan Textile Exporters Association. A large number of textile exporters were present in the meeting

Secretary Agriculture South Punjab, Saqib Ali said that the present condition of cotton crop was witnessed as satisfactory. Secretary agriculture expressed these views during a visit to Khanewal and inspected demonstration plots of cotton. He said that there was the possibility of pest attack on cotton crop including whitefly, pink bowl warm and others due to current weather conditions. He advised farmers to inspect their crop on daily basis and ensure pest scouting twice in a week so that the exact pests strengthen could be monitored. He said that negligence could become cause a decrease in cotton production. He directed the agriculture officials to create awareness among cotton growers by installing loudspeakers on vehicles and announcements through mosques about mixture spray of plant extracts on cotton crop after one week.

Agriculture Secretary also inspected cotton picking process at Shamkot area and advised the growers to pick clean cotton for good price. FBR issues new draft of rules on Export Facilitation Scheme 2021. He directed cotton inspectors to ensure arrival of clean cotton without any contamination into the markets and ginning factories and said that no negligence regarding this would be tolerated.

He said that the cotton prices at international level were very good and hoped that our growers would also get benefit from it. Secretary agriculture also directed officials to ensure strict monitoring for availability of quality Agri-inputs into the market.

The exports of knitwear during eleven months of FY 2020-21 grew by 32.70 percent as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of last year. During the period from July-May 2020-21, Knitwear worth US $ 3,414,300 were exported as compared to worth US $ 2,572,991 of the same period last year.

According to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the exports of towels were increased by 28.54 percent, worth US $ 838,507 were also exported in current financial year as compared to the exports of valuing US $ 652,351 of same period of last year.

Meanwhile, the exports of Bed wear increased by 24.60 per cent as worth US $ 2,172,782 were exported as compared to the exports of US $ 1,984,502 of same period of last year.

During the period under view, Tents, canvas and Tarpulin exports increased by 15.54 per cent as worth US $ 101,649 were exported in current fiscal year as compared to the exports of valuing $ 87,975 of same period of last year.

The government will exempt raw material and other imports intended for manufacturing of exportable goods from duty and taxes from next month under the new export facilitation scheme, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said.

The FBR issued a draft of rules for the new export facilitation scheme 2021 and called for comments from industry, exporters and other stakeholders.

The government approved the new export facilitation scheme, which will be implemented from 14th August 2021 and will run parallel with existing schemes like manufacturing bond, DTRE [duty and tax remission for exports] and export- oriented schemes for two years,” the FBR said in a statement. “The existing old schemes shall be phased out in the next two years and will be fully replaced by the export facilitation scheme-2021. Draft rules can be accessed at the official website of FBR.”

The new scheme encourages minimum documentation under Web-Based One Customs and Pakistan Single Window.

The focus of the scheme is on post clearance compliance checks and audits. Users of the scheme include exporters (manufacturers cum exporters, commercial exporters, indirect exporters), common export houses, vendors and international toll manufacturers.

“Users of the scheme shall be subject to authorization of inputs by the Collector of Customs and Director General Input Output Organization.

Inputs include all goods (imported or procured local) for manufacture of goods to be exported. These include raw materials, spare parts, components, equipment, plant and machinery,” said the FBR.

“No duty and taxes shall be levied on inputs imported by the authorised users and local supplies of inputs to the authorised users shall be zero rated.

Through this new scheme, the concept of a common export house to import raw material duty and tax free for subsequent sale to the authorized users, especially SMEs has been introduced.”

The scheme also introduces the concept of international toll manufacturing. Under the new scheme, the utilisation period has been enhanced from two years to five years depending on the profile/category of exporters.

“It is expected that export facilitation scheme 2021 shall reduce cost of doing business and cost of tax compliance, improve ease of doing business, reduce liquidity problems of exporters by eliminating sales tax refunds and duty drawback for the users of Scheme and shall attract more users and shall ultimately promote exports,” said the FBR.

“Users of the scheme will be allowed to sell up to 20 percent of the output goods manufactured from input goods in the domestic market on payment of leviable duty and taxes on filing of a goods declaration which shall be assessed as if goods are imported into Pakistan in that condition, subject to satisfaction of the regulatory collector regarding reasons for domestic sale.” The Directorate of Post Clearance Audit will conduct an audit of the users.

The applicant can apply for authorization based on both performance and contract basis simultaneously. An applicant having multiple contracts of export may apply for consolidated approval for all such contracts.

Exporters will be treated in case of manufacturers cum exporters with 60 percent or above exports of their total annual production in last two years, manufacturers/ exporters with less than 60 percent total annual production

being exported, manufacturers-cum-exporters having more than 3 years of export history, manufacturers-cum-exporters having less than 3 years export history and indirect exporter, commercial exporters, and international toll manufacturers.

The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 13100 per maund. The rate of Polyester Fiber increased by Rs 3 per kg and was available at Rs 213 per kg.