巴基斯坦国民议会要求对棉花征收10-15%的进口税

Pak assembly panel to seek 10-15% import duty on cotton
The special committee on agricultural products of Pakistan’s National Assembly (NA) recently decided to introduce a resolution to consider placing import duty of 10-15 per cent oncotton. A meeting chaired by assembly speaker Asad Qaiser instructed authorities to determine the feasibility of the suggested increase in import duty, which is zero at present.
The meeting also expressed concern over the Rs 2 increase in price of per unit of electricity under the fuel price adjustment and summoned the energy minister in the next meeting to discuss that, according to Pakistani media reports.
Pakistan is a net importer of cotton, importing primarily from the United States, India and Brazil. The import of cotton the previous year amounted to $1 billion. While the production of cotton in India increased by 150 per cent, it did not rise in Pakistan due to which cotton cannot be exported, thetradesecretary informed the meeting.
Khalid Khokhar, a representative of a farmers’ collective, said that the production cost in Pakistan is very high which skewed the situation in favour of the All PakistanTextileMills Association (APTMA) while resulting in losses for farmers.
Cotton Commissioner Khalid Abdullah said that the production area of cotton has declined from 770,000 hectare to 400,000 hectare.
The committee also summoned APTMA representatives in the next meeting to discuss the issue of cotton.
译文如下：
巴基斯坦国民议会要求对棉花征收10-15%的进口税
巴基斯坦国民议会农产品特别委员会最近决定提出一项决议，考虑对棉花征收10%至15%的进口税。由大会发言人Asad Qaiser主持的一次会议指示当局决定增加进口关税的可行性，目前进口关税为零。
据巴基斯坦媒体报道，会议还对燃料价格调整后每单位价格上涨2卢比表示担忧，并在下次会议上召见了能源部长讨论此事。
巴基斯坦是棉花净进口国，主要从美国、印度和巴西进口棉花。去年棉花进口达10亿美元。印度贸易部长在会上表示，尽管印度棉花产量增长了150%，但由于巴基斯坦无法出口棉花，印度棉花产量并没有增长。
一个农民集体的代表Khalid Khokhar说，巴基斯坦的生产成本非常高，这使情况偏向于巴基斯坦纺织厂协会(APTMA)，同时给农民造成损失。
棉花专员Khalid Abdullah表示，棉花的生产面积已经从77万公顷下降到40万公顷。
委员会还在下次会议上召集了APTMA的代表来讨论棉花问题。