Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Mohsin Aziz said Wednesday that APTMA has always stood for the Free Market Mechanism in the larger interest of country’s economy and it has neither proposed ban on export of cotton or any imposition of export duty on it. Reacting to Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) criticism, Aziz dispelled the wrong impression being spread by the PCGA through media and further assured that APTMA would never be involved in arm twisting of its business partners.
According to him, APTMA has always advocated for a free market mechanism even when cotton prices were abnormally high to the extent that it was becoming extremely hard to afford by the spinners. But still he said, they stood for the market dynamics and never supported imposition of any embargo on exports, he added. He further said the spinners suffered again heavily with heavy fall in cotton prices last year but the APTMA members maintained their inventories throughout the year until fresh crop arrived to the market.
He said certain elements among the ginners and hoarders remained overstocked with the idea of making huge profits out of expected shortage of cotton crop due to floods. According to him, the same lobby was now pursuing the government for intervention in the name of farmers. They are stuck up with abundant stocks on the presumption that prices would go up due to floods, he added.
He said the APTMA had established its stance with relevant facts and figures that any incentive in the name of farmers would actually benefit a few ginners and a group of hoarders. Therefore, the TCP intervention in the case was not suitable to the interest of neither the farmer nor the country, he said.
Mohsin said APTMA appreciates government for understanding its stance and realising that intervention of any sort at this stage would be benefiting a few individuals. He said the export market was open to every stakeholder and a total of 610,000 bales have already been exported this year and sizeable orders are already pending which would be exported in the preceding months. Also, he added, the New York Future is on the rise and export of cotton is always possible if local buyers do not buy at the prevailing international prices.
Therefore, there is no justification in making false hue and cry, he asserted. He said APTMA would strongly oppose any proposal or consideration contrary to business ethics, leading to ban on exports of cotton or imposition of duty on exports. He said APTMA would always be supportive to a fair price to the farm partners in the larger interest of the country and its economy.
