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Azerbaijan’s textile industry to ask government for customs & utility benefits

Business Materials 26 September 2017 15:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 26

By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:

Azerbaijan’s Textile Producers and Exporters Association plans to appeal to the country’s government for reduction of customs duties on the import of textile accessories, Mehriban Akhundova, chairperson of the association, told Trend.

She said that currently high customs duties are one of the main problems the textile industry faces.

“These accessories are not produced in Azerbaijan, and high customs duties on their imports affect the cost of finished products,” Akhundova said. “This reduces our competitiveness compared to China, Pakistan, where there are no import duties on accessories, chemicals, yarn and cotton. In Azerbaijan, an import duty of 15 percent is applied for the import of thread, buttons, synthetic fiber and yarn. As a result, many companies cannot enter foreign markets.”

Akhundova noted that these problems affect the domestic market as well.

“Due to high import duties, a lot of garment factories are currently idle,” Akhundova said. “Today, finished products imported from Turkey, China and Pakistan are much cheaper. If the duties were lower, we could produce the same clothes in Azerbaijan under local brands.”

She noted that the Textile Producers and Exporters Association also plans to submit appeals to the Azerbaijani government to receive benefits when paying utility bills.

“We are going to present to the Azerbaijani government the experience of other countries where textile enterprises are provided with privileges for electricity, water and gas,” Akhundova said. “For example, in Turkey, textile enterprises work around the clock, and at night they have certain benefits when paying utility bills.”

She added that reduction of production cost will allow the Azerbaijani textile industry to become more competitive both in domestic and foreign markets.

Azerbaijan’s Textile Producers and Exporters Association was established July 2017 on the initiative of entrepreneurs operating in this sphere.

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