Central Compliance Center Will Address Foreign Textile Buying Houses Concerns
Central Compliance Center Will Address Foreign Textile Buying Houses Concerns: Commerce Division of commerce ministry and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) hosted the first buying and sourcing houses symposium in which a large number of representatives from foreign buying houses, including Ikea, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Inditex participated.
Ministry of commerce has been in the process of formulation of strategic trade policy framework for the period 2018-23 and the objective of the symposium is to consult the buying and sourcing houses for the policy formulation.
Commerce division official stated that the latest international trends in products especially textile, leather and footwear are set by the “sourcing agents” as per demand of the foreign buyers. Zara, opened its first branch office in Pakistan to double its imports of around one billion dollars from Pakistan.
After witnessing slow growth and as exporters availed the government’s incentives to boost exports during the past couple of years, outbound shipments recovered 12 % to $15 billion in the first 8 months of the current fiscal year of 2018. Government had much hope on textile exports, which account for more than 60% of the country’s total annual exports, to give push to the country’s exports.
In the recent past, some foreign brands closed their buying operation in the country. Two US companies Character World and Disney shifted buying orders to Bangladesh and other regional countries.
Suggested Points By The Participants Of Foreign Textile Buying Houses
- The government should consider setting up sourcing parks to ensure all facilities through a one window facility.
- Since the security situation has improved, the buying houses be provided incentives in terms of subsidized office space to come back to Pakistan.
- A National Compliance Center set up is required which coordinates the improvement of compliance on cooperative model to improve social compliance by the manufacturers, which are increasingly becoming an important critical determinant of sourcing decisions.
- participants also proposed incentivisation of innovation for the manufacturers under the upcoming trade policy framework.
Pakistan recently improved social compliance, which were duly acknowledged by the European Union during the recent review under generalized scheme of preference plus. (GSP+).
All the foreign textile buying houses have urged the government to set up a “central compliance center” in Pakistan to improve manufacturer’s compliance with social standards a key determinant to clothing imports from the country.