Value-added textile forum: Finance Minister criticised for ignoring textile sector

The Value-Added Textile Forum on Tuesday lashed out at Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh for ignoring the country's largest industrial sector, textiles, during the continued manufacturing and export turmoil. "The Finance Minister has no time for textile sector to address the long standing and present issues of this ailing sector," said the Chairman of Value-Added Textile Forum, Mushtaq, at a press conference at PHMA House on Tuesday.
He said that Hafeez Shaikh had only a meeting with apparel sector representatives hardly for 15 minutes. Since then he had closed the doors on the textile sector. He urged him to bring the ailing industry out of the crisis. A number of representatives from different value-added textile sector were present on the occasion including co-ordinator of the forum Javed Bilwani, central and zonal chairmen of PHMA Saleem Parekh and Junaid Makda, a former Prgmea chief Mohsin Ayub Mirza, Rafiq Godil, and others.
Mushtaq said that since the EU concession had been announced the prices of yarn had escalated which could hit the production of value-added textile sector badly, and warned that output slump could result in slashing millions of jobs. "The country is not receiving foreign investment; rather the existing local manufacturing sector is verging towards a closure," he said, adding that the nation needed industrial growth with a better policy.
He urged the government to evolve a policy not only to protect national interest but also to save the stakeholders, including spinning millers, ginners, and apparel sector, from financial losses. Mushtaq warned the government of severe implications for not having a mechanism to streamline the yarn supply to the local industry, and said: "The time is ticking away, and the government must take key decision".
He said: "The government should take the current textile sector's issue seriously, as the industry is heading towards closure, and millions of people will lose jobs, as a result, which cannot be regenerated immediately." He said that every textile sector had appreciated the maiden textile policy, which largely needed a fair implementation now to save the country from any economic problems.
He said a mafia was behind the recent yarn prices increase for they had hoarded the raw commodity and are selling it at high rates but in a limited volume to local industry. He said the mafia was also damaging the financial interest of growers and the government should clamp down on the yarn price manipulators and stabilise the market.
"Apparel sector will help the government clamp down on the hoarders of yarn who do not belong to spinning sector and are from outside just to take advantage from the crisis. Yarn that was previously available for Rs 8,000 is now selling for Rs 16,000," he said.
Mushtaq said the government should take all stakeholders including spinning millers, growers, ginners and apparel sector along so that the chain of textile manufacturing could remain unbroken. Bilwani said the government's policy could not run aptly without talks with stakeholders, and urged the Finance Minister to consult and work together with the textile sector. He urged the government to frame a strict policy to restrict the export of all kinds of raw commodities from the country, as India had banned cotton export, despite the fact that the commodity was available in excess volume.
He said that value-added textile sector was also facing shortage of grey fabric due to which its production was going down. Mohsin Ayub said that speculators were creating yarn scarcity on apprehension that the commodity supply would decline, but made it clear that there was no such huge crisis in sight at present, as global cotton production almost in all regions grew highly.
He said that gold investors might have entered the yarn market globally, which increased the commodity prices, as the yellow metal had exceeded the psychological limits of $1350 an ounce and no one would risk further capital with clear fears of market slump in near future. Saleem suggested to the government to evolve a hedging mechanism to streamline the local yarn market and regulate the yarn export, and that apparel sector had no clash of interests with spinning millers.
All apparel sector stakeholders agreed and suggested to the government to form a uniform policy, helping the entire textile sector as a whole. The apparel sector representatives are also going to hold a meeting on October 21 in Islamabad with textile ministry to discuss the present issues.