SIALKOT - Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) has refused to accept the Cabinet Committee on yarn, saying that it consists on only those members who belong to spinning sector alone. Talking to the newsmen at Sialkot here on Monday, Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) North Zone Sialkot Dr Khurram Anwar Khawaja said that that yarn crises have crippled the value-added textile industry over the last 10 months. It is ironic that Pakistan being cotton producing country cannot get benefit of it; rather our raw material of cotton yarn is being supplied to our competing countries like China and Bangladesh, which are giving us hard time in the world market. He said that Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani had recently constituted a cabinet committee to resolve the issue of cotton crises but to our extreme wonder, it consists of only those members who belong to spinning sector alone. As such this committee is unilateral, non-representative and cannot watch the interest of value-added textile chain. Such committee will reach a biased decision, we believe. 'We strongly hold that our local industry has the first right over raw material produced in this country. We should not afford to let our industry remain idle and provide employment opportunity to value chain in other countries at the cost of Pakistans interest, he added. Dr Khurram said that imposition of 15 percent regularity duty on export of yarn is a welcome step since it has reduced yarn prices in local market to some extent. However, the desired results have not been achieved. We, therefore, demand that regulatory duty on export of yarn should be enhanced to 30 percent, as only then raw material will be available to local industry, he added. Moreover, the amount received from regulatory duty should be passed on to value-added textile sub-sectors because only then our exports would remain competitive in the world market. The government should not make this regulatory duty a source of revenue, he demanded. Chairman PHMA revealed that over the last 10 months, the prices of yarn have almost doubled but without any benefit to growers. We demand of the government that minimum support price for cotton should be ensured so that income of agriculture sector should increase and it may further develop. Intensity of the yarn crises has not been properly realised and no long-term measure has been discussed at the government level. We, therefore, demand that besides short-term ad hoc steps, a strong long-term strategy should be devised to manage our disturbed textile based economy. It is, therefore, need of the hour that export of all kinds of raw material like cotton, yarn, grey woven or knitted fabrics should be completely banned so that our value-added sectors should flourish, he narrated. 'We have keenly observed that no authentic data is available with government or APTMA about production of yarn in the country. It is essential that a reliable data is made available not only to the government but also to all stakeholders so that proper planning could be made and also to determine the quantity available for local consumption and the exportable surplus. In the absence of proper data, desired results of any policy cannot be obtained, he further stated. He said that it was the demand of all the value-added textile sectors that any committee entrusted with the task of framing policy for yarn should be a representative body of all stakeholders. Any corner meeting without consulting all stakeholders across the board will remain unacceptable for the value-added textile sectors and their protest will continue which we do not want and even afford to go for strikes or protests; rather we want rational policy measures to solve the core issue of the availability of raw material for our industry.