President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) Mian Zahid Hussain has said that Pakistan was the third largest exporter of raw cotton but now it has become an importer since last two years which must be reversed. He suggested the complete ban on imports of cotton to encourage local farmers. Continued collapse of cotton crop had discouraged cultivators who had started eying on other crops which could prove very damaging for cotton economy, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that cotton economy was the backbone of the economy which should be encouraged at any cost. He said that around 15 million bales were needed in the country but the cotton belt could only produce 10.5 million bales paving way for import of 2.7 million bales from India. The government waived import duty and sales tax on the import of raw cotton to keep prices stable which resulted in revenue loss of around Rs 10 billion, he added. Now, government had decided to impose four percent customs duty and five percent sales tax on import of cotton from July which would discourage imports and encourage local planters, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017