Japanese textile imports from Pakistan rise sharply
26 Apr '12
1 min read
Japan's textile imports from Pakistan witnessed a significant increase during 2011, despite the products attracting a heavy duty of 9.5 percent.
Registering a year-on-year rise of 124.8 percent, Japan's textile imports from Pakistan soared from 2010's US$ 57 million to US$ 128 million, the data released by the Japan Bureau of Statistics stated.
The rise in Pakistani textile exports, despite imposition of high duty on Pakistani textiles in Japan, is a noteworthy achievement for Pakistan.
While Pakistani textile items are subjected to a 9.5 percent duty in Japan, textile imports from Bangladesh, China and India enjoy zero-duty benefit.
India and China have inked different deals with Japan, which facilitates duty-free export of their textiles to Japan. Likewise, Bangladesh enjoys the Least Developed Country status, which allows it to export its textiles duty free to Japan.
In the last few years, Pakistan has been consecutively hit by natural calamities, but instead of extending its assistance, Japan has curtailed the development aid to Pakistan.
However, Pakistan is now seeking tariffs at par with India and China, rather than a rise in development aid.
During his recent visit to Japan. Pakistan Commerce Minister Amin Fahim urged the Japanese authorities to cut duties on import of Pakistani textile items.