Pakistani cabinet committee allows duty-free cotton import

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Pakistani cabinet recently ordered immediate clearance of about Rs 36 billion refund claims of exporters and allowed tax and duty-free import of cotton.

The ECC approved withdrawal of customs duty, additional customs duty and sales tax on import of cotton from February 1 to June 30 this year.

The step is reportedly aimed at ensuring sufficient cotton supply for the textile industry, especially the export segment. The decisions were taken at an ECC meeting presided over by finance minister Asad Umar.

The decision was based on the plea that Pakistan had been a net cotton importer since 2001. As domestic cotton is of short-to-medium staple length, textile manufacturers import long and extra long staple cotton for finer yarn counts for manufacturing value-added products.

Cotton at present is subject to 3 per cent customs duty, 2 per cent additional customs duty and 5 per cent sales tax.

The ECC also approved regulatory amendments in the Export Policy Order 2016 and Import Policy Order 2016 as proposed by the commerce division. These will be submitted for consideration to the cabinet.