FAISALABAD: Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has demanded the government to give due importance to textile export sector which is earning 60 percent of the total foreign exchange.
Expressing concern over 12.9 percent drop in exports during the last month, the PTEA also demanded the government to take immediate remedial measure to arrest the shortfall.
Talking to the media here on Wednesday, Sohail Pasha, Chairman and Rizwan Riaz Saigal, Vice Chairman of the PTEA said that textile exports also witnessed 2.91 percent decline in February 2015 over the same month of the previous fiscal year and 9.96 percent drop over previous month.
Giving details, they said that country exported textile goods worth USD 1.087 billion in February as against exports of USD 1.119 billion in same month of previous year and USD 1.207 billion in previous month of January showing a hectic decline of 2.91% and 9.96%, respectively.
They said that export of value added items also witnessed negative growth as cotton cloth down by 15.47%, bed wear 4.82% and towels 8.34% compared to same month of previous fiscal. These may not sound like big numbers, but if the trend keeps up it could spell some amount of trouble for the economy, especially considering that the trade deficit is continuing to widen, they said and added that drop in textile exports is clear indication of the fact that textile industry, particularly the Punjab-based, is unable to tap its potential in accordance with its capacity.
Pin-pointing the prime reasons behind export decline, Sohail Pasha explained that high cost of doing business and lack of competitive edge with regional rivals including unprecedented energy constrains and unavailability of funds are badly hurting the textile export growth.
Value-added textile export sector is already facing severe global competition as regional countries are providing lot of subsidies and incentives to its textile export sector to remain competitive in international market, he added.
Quoting the example of gas prices, he said that gas price in Pakistan is 6.27 dollars per mmbtu; which is at the higher edge than all competitors. Per mmbtu gas price in Bangladesh is 1.91 dollar, in India is 4.20 dollar and in Sri Lanka is 3.66 dollar. Recently, in a bid to give stiff competition to Pakistan, India has flexed its muscles by proposing huge subsidies to its textile exporters.
Terming lack of funds another hurdle in export growth, he said there is a capital blockage for textile exporters as their major capital remain stuck up in refund cycle, causing a major dent to textile exporters.
Vice Chairman Rizwan Riaz Saigal was of the view that now is the time that repair had to be made otherwise decline in exports would put irreparable loss to economy. Competitors made huge investments due to the positive and business friendly environment provided by their governments and taking advantage of the situation, they are creeping into our traditional markets throwing Pakistani textiles out.
To secure interest of economy, PTEA office bearers urged the government to bring the textile exports out of inflationary pressure and provide level playing field.
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