Textile Mills Association demands demurrage charges waived

PESHAWAR: Textile Mills of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are facing significant difficulties due to the non-availability of foreign exchange in the State Bank of Pakistan and commercial banks, resulting in a significant number of consignments being stuck at ports for clearance.

Afan Aziz, Chairman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA), said that it was causing a financial burden on the mills as they were being charged huge amounts of demurrage and container detention charges by the relevant port authorities, container terminal companies and shipping companies.

He said the KPTMA had written letters to the federal minister for maritime affairs and the Ministry of Finance requesting a waiver of demurrage charges and seeking prompt support in directing the State Bank and commercial banks to assist the mills in retiring existing letters of credit of $10 million and establishing new ones for importing essential raw materials.

Aziz also praised the State Bank’s circular, dated December 27, 2022, which relaxed import restrictions on export-oriented sector imports, and stated that spinning mills qualify for import relief as they are an export-oriented sector. He highlighted that the export-oriented sector brought in a record-high foreign exchange of $19.33 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22.