The knitted hosiery apparel sector sources on Tuesday expressed fear that another 150 units may completely stop production due to soaring prices of cotton yarn and increasing cost of production throughout the country.
They said that hosiery apparel sector was facing severe financial problems due to government''s wrong policies, and high cost of production continues despite its assurance time and again. They said that some units were not getting Research and Development (R&D) assistance for not exporting hosiery items due to low or no production in the wake of skyrocketing prices of cotton yarn, besides its shortage in the market.
"The increase in the prices of cotton yarn is unjustified and occurred only in the last three months," they pointed out. The closure of hosiery units is likely to bring about large-scale unemployment of both skilled and unskilled labour, particularly female workers by and large, they expressed fears.
They said that the government''s policies were on the wrong path and have no worth for entire textile sector. They said that fiscal export targets were a distant dream to achieve due to lack of government''s supportive policies for trade.
There are about 1200 hosiery manufacturing units in the country, mainly located in industrial zones of Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, of which 150 have already closed down, they added. The government should also allow the medium and short staple cotton yarn from India and Central Asian countries to meet the local industrial demand, they demanded.
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