ISLAMABAD  (February 18, 2011) : As the textile exporters fear of losing 40 percent of their share in Turkish market after imposition of anti-dumping duty, Pakistan is sending a team to negotiate with Ankara on February 22, 2011, it is reliably learnt. According to sources, Turkey has decided to levy anti-dumping duty on the textile imports from Pakistan, Bangladesh and China to save its local industry.

"The cost of production in Turkey will be sky-rocketing and it will become very difficult for its Textile sector to produce different commodities at low rates," sources disclosed. "Almost 40 percent of Pakistan textile exports are available at low cost than that of Turkish local industry's products. So, the Turkish authorities are accusing Pakistani textile exporters of dumping their local industry. "When a company sells any product at a low price than the price of that product in local market, at that time the export of such product is called 'dumping"," sources explained.

"Turkey has decided to increase the import duty on our garments from 9.5 percent to 52 percent and on fabric from 6.5 percent to 35 percent," the sources disclosed. They said that a delegation from Pakistan would go to Turkey on February 22 for detailed negotiations on the issue with Turk Minister for Foreign Trade. Pakistani delegation will try its best to convince the Turk Authorities not to impose anti-dumping duty on textile imports from Pakistan.
The overall performance of the textile sector has remained under pressure during 2007-2011(December). The major investment has been made in cotton spinning, weaving, and textile processing. Imports of the textile machinery during the period 2009-10 have surged up to $298 million showing a 40 percent increase over the last year.

The overall export of cotton and synthetic cloth has increased during July-December 2010-11 both in quantity and value terms. The export of cloth has increased by 6per cent in quantity and 31 percent in value. The export of bed wear, made-up and towels has also shown an upward trend. The bedwear exports have increased by one per cent in quantity and 16 percent in value during the current six months, while the exports of made-ups have increased by 21 percent in value.

The export of both woven and knitted garments has also increased. During July-December 2010-11, the export of woven garment has increased by 23 per cent in quantity and 35 per cent in value terms. The export of knitwear has increased by 21 per cent in quantity and 24 per cent in value. In the year 2009-10, the government has disbursed a sum of Rs 9.75 billion for the textile sector whereas an amount of 7.5 billion has been allocated in the ongoing financial year to provide support to the industry.