The textile industry circles fear that they will face gas as well as power shortage after Eid. Talking to Business Recorder, the industry circles pointed out that the textile industry in Punjab has faced gas loadshedding for 160 days since last winter.
It is for the first time that the textile industry is denied gas availability during summer, causing about 30% production losses amidst dwindling cotton prices world-wide.
Energy security has become a major concern for textile industry in Pakistan. Power shortage since November 2007 has already resulted in closures of many important textile units across the country. One can recall that the desperate textile millers had rushed to Islamabad and protested in front of the Parliament for uninterrupted power supply. The then government did nothing except lip service to the problems of textile industry. Above all, the industry's bigwigs were also not serious in resolving the issue of power shortage that ultimately resulted in closure of many units.
The industrialists who are running their units on gas-fed power generation are facing many problems. The industry production, especially the one meant for exports, is affected by 30 percent. They fear that the SNGPL schedule of closing gas supply for three weeks right after Eid holidays has already panicked many people. The SNGPL is due to suspend gas supply on account of Annual Turn Around (ATA) of Qadirpur Gas Field. Aptma rejected 20 days gas curtailment plan of SNGPL and said that it would lead to the layoff of one million workforce and export loss of $1.3 billion.
It would also hit one million workforce directly besides affecting the textile industry capacity to procure cotton, the Aptma spokesman said recently. The textile industry was already facing huge inventory losses due to decrease in cotton price in the international market translating into huge Non Performing Loans (NPLs) worth Rs 600 billion so far.
The textile industry could not afford closure of units for a single day, the spokesman said adding that the textile industry operates 24/7 world-wide and it was not closed on even religious festivals like Eid.
Aptma has also demanded 5 percent interest rate support on all outstanding short and long-term loans as on 30 June 2011 in line with the measures adopted by the regional competitors to respond to the global cotton crisis. According to the association, the regional competitors including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China have responded to the global cotton crisis through devising different support measures for their textile industries.