F.P. Report MULTAN: The cotton and yarn export remains to be a major issue among the segments of textile sector despite the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Textile has announced withdrawal of the 5 percent import duty on yarn imports. The APTMA and KCA oppose the idea to impose ban on coarse yarn and cotton export while the PTMA, PTEA, PHMEA, APTPMA, APBUMA and PCPA castigate the decision of the Cabinet Committee in this respect. Chairman Pakistan Towel Manufacturers Association (PTMA), Feroze Azam said due to export of coarse yarn, our competitiveness and cost of doing business has been enhanced.He said, "We export quality towel by using our coarse yarn and due to shortage of raw material the towel sector was facing hardship to meet production cost". M Jawed Bilwani, chairman, Pakistan Apparel Forum, a cluster of opposing textile segment, said after several meetings with the stakeholders reached an understanding that keeping in mind the severe difficulties faced by the domestic Value Added Textile Sector due to non-availability of cotton yarn, such a decision is incomprehensible. He said this was not at all a pragmatic decision to resolve the severe crisis but it appears that the government is playing into hands of the spinning sector and ignoring the largest foreign exchange and employment generator, the Value Added Textile Sector for which disaster looms nearest. Pakistan Textile Exporters Association��s Chairman, Khurram Mukhtar, said exports of value added textile items were consistently declining over the last five months.He said that mere monitoring of LC conditions would prove totally ineffective and the manipulation and maneuverings should be undertaken. They demanded immediate remedial and regulatory measures to save the value added sector from complete destruction. Member KCA, Shakeel Ahmad said, "Our domestic coarse yarn is still cheaper in the global market with high quality and available at local market around Rs 30 per pound". He said in open market economy, there should not be any ban on export or import except ban on import of luxury items. He said around 75 percent of local yarn is used by the value addition sectors in the country and only 25 to 30 percent coarse yarn is exported to China, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand. He demanded the government not to intervene and take any short term/ad-hoc measures because the consequences would not only hurt the spinning industry but would also hurt the value added sector and the whole economy. We believe in free trade and are not in favour of any kind of restriction on exports of yarn and the conditions for registration of export of cotton yarn is time consuming and would hamper the export, Anwar Ahmed Tata, Chairman, APTMA said. He said "Registration of contracts to monitor export of cotton yarn introduced by TDAP is already being done by APTMA since last fifteen years by fixing a Minimum Export Price".