Hamada El-Qaliouby: New Mechanisms for Curbing Trafficked Textiles

The textile industry has recently been exposed to severe threats which may be described as a sort of war waged by organized groups working in trafficking textiles into the local market. This led factory owners to present an urgent memorandum to the chamber of textile industries after preparing a list with the names of traffickers. The chamber in turn prepared a list of guiding prices to be used in taxation and by the customs authorities in ports. The Head of the Chamber, Hamada El-Qaliouby, stated that the chamber is presently studying methods and mechanisms required for curbing the trafficking of textile via all points. The chamber started with the guiding price list to prevent tampering with prices and avoidance of taxes and duties through the false bills presented with the trafficked goods. This is not the end of the story, because there are some illegal trafficking points and some factories in the free zones which contribute to increasing the amounts of trafficked textiles.

El Qaliouby also explained that certain controlling procedures will soon be applied to curb the trafficked amounts, pointing out the concern of the chamber for this issue which has caused manufacturers to sustain heavy losses.

He added that by the end of next week, a meeting will be held by the chamber board of directors to discuss the means of stopping the flow of bad quality Chinese products which have spread in the local market, pointing out the importance of meeting environmental criteria in all production units. He also stated that the list of guiding prices will be updated for the purpose of coping with the world prices in the light of the recent price rise in the materials, transportation, and the cost of import.

Source: El Alam El-Youm