All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Tariq Saud has said that the high cost of doing business has started hitting textile industry severely as further closure of operations of the textile mills have been reported to the association.
At least 110 textile mills have closed down their operations due to the high cost of doing business, particularly the cost of electricity and gas. “The current state of situation is fast becoming out of control, which is quite evident from the free fall of exports over the last three months,” he pointed out.
He said the export data for November 2015 suggested that exports of cotton yarn and cotton fabric had dropped by 45 percent and 22 percent respectively against the corresponding period in quantitative terms, consequently an overall decline by 15 percent in value terms during the same period.
“There is a nominal increase in clothing exports, which constitute $4 billion in total exports of industry as against $8 billion of textiles,” he added. He said the clothing sector had possessed the growth potential of above 20 per cent with the availability of GSP plus facility, but it could not happen because of the adverse circumstances.
Meanwhile, he said, both the spinning and weaving sectors, backbone of the textile value chain, had faced the brunt of high cost of doing business which has made them unviable throughout the country.
He lamented that the government was pressing the textile millers, particularly Punjab, to purchase LNG at $10.10/MMBTU after extending an earlier offer of $8.5/MMBTU. This will make the industry further unviable as against international competitors, he added.
He said the Punjab-based textile industry was under severe threat of closure because of non-availability of gas. “Some 100 mills have already been closed down and more are heading to abyss fast,” he added.
The APTMA chairman has urged the government to immediately announce remaining part of the textile package which includes (i) DLTL to the entire textile value chain, (ii) extension of export refinance to spinning and weaving sub-sectors, (iii) introduction of safeguards through tariff, (iv) non-tariff measures against the inroads of synthetic yarns and (v) fabrics in domestic market and availability of incentives in the export market by matching the regional support package. He expressed the hope that the government would undertake immediate remedial measures to save the textile industry from total collapse.
[…] Pakistan Today […]
Comments are closed.