Spokesman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has said the electricity supply disruptions have further dragged the textile industry to the brink of collapse, particularly in the province of Punjab. Discos have unilaterally extended eight to ten hours announced and unannounced load shedding of electricity to the industry on independent and grouped feeders. Textile industry is highly energy-reliant in its very basic nature and thus requires uninterrupted energy supply to run mill operations. APTMA spokesman said the textile industry in Punjab is virtually at halt and unable to produce goods mainly meant for exports. In major industry clusters, he added, the textile mills have been left with no option but to close down their operations for one whole shift due to energy supply suspension. Viability of the Textile industry is dependent on uninterrupted energy supply to operate on three shifts a day basis throughout the year. He further added that 40% production capacity of textile industry has already been made idle since last six months, shrinking the size of exports both in quantitative terms. The country is losing billions of dollars exports solely due to short supply of energy, both electricity and gas.
