All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Aamir Fayyaz on Friday said that the country's export dropped from 25 billion dollars to 20 billion dollars. He said the country witnessed a drop of five billion dollars in exports due to increasing cost of business, high electricity and gas prices.
While addressing a press conference along with APTMA Punjab President Syed Ali Ahsan, Aamir Fayyaz urged that the government should announce the export-led strategy at the earliest. He said without increasing their exports they will be unable to bear the fruits of China Pakistan Economic Corridor as China will use it just as a corridor. He said macroeconomic indicators of the country were going in a right direction. He urged the government to give incentives to the industry. Thousands of people have been unemployed as the industry is unable to compete in the international market, he further commented.
Fayyaz demanded that the government should lift duty on all kinds of fibbers. If the government facilitates the industry, they can increase the export from 12 billion dollars to 20 billion dollars in next five years.
He said the textile industry representatives held meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif twice and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar three times in the past few weeks and tried to convince them that no country in the world had prospered without export-led policies. Examples of countries that prospered by using this policy include Germany, Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Fayyaz informed that textile industry representatives had assured the Prime Minister of elimination of structural imbalances in the economy given the removal of constraints in full-potential operation of the textile industry. The resultant increase in textile exports would transform the economy and put it on rails for achieving economic growth.
The APTMA chairman said that buying by international brands and big retailers for the next season has already started and the industry is likely to lose the growth opportunity if the policy announcement is delayed further. He urged for announcement of the measures earlier than Pakistan's share in the international market fall further, so that the trend could be reversed.
Aamir said that the export-oriented industry contributed heavily to GDP, foreign exchange earnings and employment. The industry has reviewed the trade deficit that has surged to USD7 billion during the 1st quarter of the current fiscal year which was principally due to decline in exports. The industry is optimistic given its potential to sustain international competition in the global textile market that operates on very low margins due to its fiercely competitive character.
The policy measures that he suggested the government include elimination of customs duty on cotton with effect from January 2017, duty free import of raw materials like manmade fibre not manufactured domestically, graduating drawbacks of local taxes on yarn, fabric, processed fabric, home textiles, made-ups and garments, upon export, extension of long-term finance facility to indirect exports, input tax adjustment on packing materials, new gas and RLNG connections for captive and process use, notification of NEPRA-determined multi-year tariff for industry without incidence of surcharge for provision of electricity at regionally competitive rate of Rs 7 per KWh and provision of RLNG / system gas to the textile industry at Rs 600 per MMBTU.