Chairman Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association PRGMEA Ijaz A Khokhar demanded support from textile industry stakeholders in generating demand for bumper cotton crop to avoid a looming crisis ahead.
He urged textile industry stakeholders including cotton growers, ginners, spinners, weavers, processors to join hands in pursuading government for uninterrupted power supply to value added industry which would generate demand for bumper cotton crop, he contended.
He said that the present global economic crisis was likely to adversely affect textile prices of products and there was an urgent need of a joint strategy. “I have already sent letters to textile industry stakeholders, asking for a roundtable conference on the prevailing crisis,” he said.
He further added that power demand of value added textile industry was about 500MW. Uninterrupted power supply to woven garment, knitwear units would provide a catalyst to the entire textile industry. International buyers still rely heavily on Pakistani garment exports due to their quality and timely delivery, which is a rare combination among competitors of Pakistan garment industry.
Khokhar feared delays in the provision of timely uninterrupted power supply to value added textile industry which would cause problems for cotton farmers. He hoped that the textile industry stakeholders support his proposal and plan a joint strategy for the larger interest of the country. Pakistan achieved historic textile exports in FY2011 and the textile sector contributed immensely to the overall exports of the country. The textile sector achieved exports of $13.805 billion compared to $10.221 in the year 2010. Consolidated export figures show that cotton cloth and knitwear were amongst the top export products and their exports grew by 42 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively.
