20 percent less yarn export: Bilwani accuses Aptma of misleading textile industry

Chief Co-ordinator of Value Added Textile Forum, Muhammad Javed Bilwani has said that All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has always been misleading the industry with wrong statistics. He said the local media's claims are wrong that the spinning industry had exported 20 percent less yarn this year, according to a press release of VATF, issued here on Saturday.
Bilwani said that Aptma has always been crying wolf and misleading and is actually "spinning" the cotton yarn, entire textile sector as well as politicians taking 'them for a ride'. He said that because of such tactics, today Bangladesh have gone ahead and has advanced in the spinning sector. He referred that in one of the meetings, Aptma has stated that 60 percent of the spinning mills are registered with sales tax department. The day the spinning sector is 100 percent documented, Pakistan's backbone of the economy, textile sector with 56 percent exports would definitely be streamlined.
He further said spinners have jumbled up cotton yarn issue and caused such confusion that it has become difficult to sort out this jumble. Either we pick up from the cotton yarn end or from the value added product-garment end. It is easier to start from the cotton yarn end because of the fact that there are lesser spinning units (in 100s) than the value-added textile units (in 1000s), he added.
Chief Co-ordinator VATF said it is great irony that the value-added textile industry is the largest customer of the spinning industry since last 20 years and previously, spinners payment terms were quite liberal but lately, they insisted on advance payment with stringent conditions that yarn would only be supplied after clearance of cheques. These conditions were not expected by people of our own country with whom long-term relations are maintained. In comparison, whenever we requested for advance payment from our foreign buyers with whom long-term relations are maintained, they always co-operated and liberally remitted advance payment to us, he said.
He said that India had regulated export of cotton yarn by registration as a result of which huge quantity was held in stock but now owing to the opening up of exports of cotton yarn, world buyers are rapidly lifting Indian yarn because of its better quality as compared to Pakistan's and spinners in Pakistan now face a glut. Furthermore, whenever there is a glut, spinners trouble the value added textile sector played dirty with tactics such as increasing humidity in cotton yarn; short weight, yarn spun from substandard cotton all these of which not only put us in loss but there are also large rejections during the dyeing process.
Referring to Aptma's statement that the spinning industry had exported 20 percent less yarn this year as against 2009-10, Bilwani said Aptma was clearly misleading because in last year 2009-10, 21 percent more yarn was exported as compared to 2008-9. Although, if previous year export is compared ie 2006-7 to 2007-8, 17 percent less was exported and value added sector's demand increased. If export of yarn of 2007-8 to 2008-9 is compared, six percent less yarn was exported.-PR