APTMA: Black Day

Yesterday the textile industry observed Black Day. The lobby of spinners, APTMA closed down its textile mills all across the country to protest the unfavourable policies of this anti-business, anti-export government. The association said that the value-added sector joined in the strike as well. What are APTMA’s demands, and are they representative of the entire textile industry of Pakistan?

The shutter-down strike – a tactic employed in the past as well – seeks out the following measures: immediate payment of all pending refunds; full implementation of the Rs180 billion export package; removal of surcharges from electricity tariff; and supply of system gas and LNG at Rs400 per MMBTU without the GIDC surcharge. It’s hard to argue that wherever you are in the textile value chain; these are the common policies that are needed to restore competitiveness.

It’s also hard to argue that the current government does appear to be ‘anti-export.’ The Commerce Ministry is not doing anything to promote exports, the Textile Ministry is not even in the game, and the export package is not being implemented. The graph illustrates the precipitous decline in textile exports since the PML-N came into power. Although the FY17 numbers are not here yet, they are also expected to show a decline at the rate things are going.

With all that being said, however, one cannot ignore the disarray that our textile industry is in either. This column has written about the dis-integration of our textile industry many times in the past (Read: “Good for the goose, bad for the gander,” published on November 11, 2016). We know that the textile spinners like to create a protectionist environment and are able to tilt policies in their favour because there are more spinning mills than any other kind of mill in Pakistan. Even now, APTMA has been complaining of higher imports of yarn into the country (not included in the Black Day’s demands). In the same breath, they are asking for making import of cotton duty free.

Value-addition is wanting in the country. The PBIF issued a statement last week saying that the exports of raw material must be discouraged and the government needs to introduce a liberal import policy. Protectionist measures only serve to further increase the cost of doing business. However, the issue of protectionism is not included in Black Day, and the industry stands united in their demands. Let’s see if the government gives an inch.