Textile exports from Pakistan have been facing declining trends for the last seven years, shrinking its share in the global market from 2.2 percent to 1.8 percent. However, during the same period, textile exports of the regional competitors have remarkably been increased as Bangladesh has recorded 75 percent growth in its global share, from 1.9 percent to 3.3 percent; China’s share has increased by 35 percent, from 27 percent to 37 percent and India has enhanced its share by 35 percent, from 3.4 percent to 4.7 percent. If the declining trends are continued, the country will soon be out of the list of textile exporting countries.
The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) is observing a black day across the country to draw the government’s attention towards the problems faced by the textile sector. The textile mills from Karachi to Peshawar have been closed down and hundreds of textile workers are on roads to protest against the government policies. According to the association, the country’s textile sector is unable to compete in the world market due to high cost of production and higher tariffs of electricity and gas. The government should have to take preventive measures to lower the cost of production and save the industry from closure. The crisis in this sector will not only deprive the country of precious foreign exchange, but will also increase unemployment. Therefore, the government will have to walk on a tight rope by taking all the representative bodies on board as there is a clash of interests even within the stakeholders in this vital sector of the economy.
What the government has to do is to extend incentives for various segments of the textile industry to bring the cost of production at par with the regional competitors. Some stakeholders are opposing the imposition of a fresh regulatory duty on yarn imports as according to them, it will hurt the export of value added textile products from the country. According to APTMA Punjab Chairman Aamir Fayyaz, the textile industry has become unviable due to high cost of production and free entry of textile products into Pakistan from the regional competitors. He claims that the overall exports of the country have decreased by 21 percent last month as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The country has faced an export loss of $443 million just in one month. As a matter of fact, the textile sector provides employment to 60 percent of the labourer and it is the main sector of the foreign exchange earnings. The countries in the region, especially India and Bangladesh, have outperformed Pakistan and this should be a point to ponder for the government economists to revisit their policies. A textile package is the need of the hour.