Central Chairman of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Rana Muhammad Mushtaq Khan on Saturday expressed serious concern over the declining trend in textile exports, urging the government to implement Textile Policy forthwith. Talking to Business Recorder, he said "the country's textile sector is in deep recession and worrying all the stakeholders."
He added that knitwear export fell 37.65 percent in terms of volume during December 2011 than that of December 2010. Citing statistics of various sectors of textile, he said the export figures were indicating a serious decline in the value-added textile sector. Giving example of fall in the home textile export, he said the bedwear export slumped 32.75 percent and cotton cloth 26.41 percent during December 2011, comparing to the export of these products in the same period of last fiscal year.
Quoting official statistics, he said exports of knitwear fell 21.57 percent, bed-wear 21.82 percent, towels 12.30 percent, readymade garment 13 percent and cotton cloth 10.92 percent during July-December 2011 as compared the same period of last fiscal year. He said value-added textile sector contributed over 50 percent of the nation's exports, besides generating huge employment opportunities, which was clearly in "dire straits". He urged the government to take serious notice of the regression in exports.
The country, Rana said, was facing great decline in value-added textile exports, which could only be stemmed if the government implements the maiden Textile Policy "in letter and spirit". He said the government should devise a smart plan to streamline the textile sector exports to boost the fragile economy. He said the association members were facing acute financial crisis as their Rs 20 billion claims of DLTL were still withheld with the authorities.
He proposed that the government should exempt textile sector from power cuts to help the falling economy sustain, besides separating this sector's status with a special tariff slab for utilities. He said local exporters were unable to meet the global competitive challenges and needed the government support to introduce themselves on the international market front.