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LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) and the International Cotton Association (ICA) have agreed to enhance cooperation on the cotton needs of the textile industry in Pakistan.
ICA president Alex Hsu said the visit of the association’s delegation is taking place under its outreach to Pakistan initiative. He was accompanied by Bill Kingdon, managing director, and Carl Peltzer, director, ICA.
APTMA chairman Abdul Rahim Nasir welcomed the delegation along with Hamid Zaman, chairman Northern Zone, Kamran Arshad, senior vice chairman, and secretary general Raza Baqir.
Alex Hsu announced to hold a training seminar in Pakistan regarding the ICA rules in the month of October. He said the objective of organizing the seminar would be to apprise the APTMA members about the cotton trade, challenges and possible solutions vis a vis issues being faced by Pakistani cotton buyers in the hands of suppliers.
The ICA delegation addressed the issues raised by the APTMA members relating to membership, dispute resolution and delayed shipments etc.
Foreign delegates updated the APTMA members about the best global practices in the cotton and textile trade being adopted by various countries to meet the new challenges.
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He said, “We are looking forward to strengthening our ties regionally and building relationships with an important textile country in South Asia, having significant ICA membership and playing major international role in yarn and textile manufacturing.
The purpose of our visit is to learn at first-hand how current market conditions, logistic challenges and retail demands are affecting cotton trade with reference to Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, APTMA chairman Rahim Nasir offered the APTMA premises to hold the ICA training session. He also asked the ICA to set up its office at the APTMA premises for better coordination keeping in mind the growing demand of cotton in the years ahead.
He said cotton is an important cash crop for Pakistan and a major raw material for its textile industry, representing 75 percent in the fibre mix of the textile industry products, which provides livelihood to 25 million people in Pakistan.
According to him, the present demand for cotton in Pakistan is at least 13 million bales.
Highlighting the issues linked with cotton production in Pakistan, Chairman APTMA said cotton production in Pakistan has dropped to less than 8 million bales this year as against estimated consumption of 13 million bales due to water shortage, fake pesticides, and poor pest management. Coupled with other fundamental issues, he added, the cotton import bill has jumped to around $1.8 billion in FY022.
He said Pakistan emerging as cotton importing country but the importers are not fully aware of the ICA rules and their rights as buyers.
According to him, there is a general impression that the arbitration proceedings are biased in favour of the suppliers. Similarly, he added, there are also complaints regarding high arbitration fee for non-members of the ICC, he added.
Chairman Northern Zone Hamid Zaman said the issues like slow settlement process, short weighing, and unviable solution of invoicing back where the seller is defaulter, deterrent penalty for wilful default, non-coverage of short weight under the compensation clause, and costlier charges discourage the APTMA members to apply for the ICA membership.
He proposed the ICA delegation to establish ICA accredited testing labs in Pakistan. Also, he added, the ICA should carry out joint venture with APTMA for capacity building of its member mills.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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