Textile, load-shedding & Ramazan

In addition to people feeling the heat, our industry is feeling the heat of load shedding too. Last week, the Pakistan Apparel Forum issued a statement highlighting the 7-8 hours of load shedding in industrial areas of Karachi, where production has been scaled down by 40 percent. This statement came a day after the Commerce Minister said that an increasing trend in exports is being observed since the announcement of the PM’s export package!

First things first; so far, there isn’t enough evidence to suggest any ‘rebound,’ as the Commerce Minister likes to claim (Read: “Textile exports 10MFY17,” published on May 24, 2017). That’s because there remains a divide between implementation and policy. The new budget didn’t introduce anything new either, and the exporters’ claims are still pending. The cotton production was, despite an improvement over the previous year, also underwhelming, and has resulted in the cotton ginners successfully lobbying for an import duty.

Now, given the resumption of load shedding in Ramadan, it appears that matters will only be worse before they can get better. In addition to Karachi, industrial load shedding is taking place in Punjab as well, from Iftari to Seheri, as per a source in APTMA. Prior to the holy month, both Punjab and Sindh were receiving a steady supply of electricity. In Ramadan, however, the government diverts the supply of electricity from the industry to consumers.

Energy has long been a core issue for the industry. Even when there is no load shedding, the tariff is the highest in the region. The textile industry claims to pay 100 percent of what it consumes from WAPDA, yet it is being charged Rs3.6 as theft surcharge. The gas-pricing issue persists as well; Punjab is getting RLNG for Rs1050, whereas Sindh is getting Sui gas for Rs600.

It’s understandable that the government diverts the electricity from industry to consumers, but it doesn’t seem to be working for the consumers even! Why are the consumers suffering as well? Where are all the megawatts going that the sitting government so proudly likes to flaunt? It’s unfortunate that the load shedding epidemic has gotten so bad that both the industry and the everyday consumers are currently at a loss.