Textile leaders seek R&D support for weaving sector

The weaving sector is baseline of the textile sector producing value-added export fabrics needing to be sustained by R&D Support Facility on fabrics, said Tahir Ishaque Bharara, chairman, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA).
Mughees A. Sheikh, chairman, All Pakistan Bedsheets & Upholstery Manufacturers Association (Apbuma); Syed Asim Shah, chairman, Dryport Multan; Sh. Ashfaq Ahmed, chairman, Faisalabad Dryport; Khalid Mehmood Cheema, Muhammad Akram Ghouri, vice chairman, All Pakistan Cotton Powerlooms Association (Apcpa) in a joint communiqué here on Saturday.
The R&D Support Facility on fabrics export over the last two years has helped boost fabrics exports from 904 million meters in 2006 to 1,015 million meters in 2008, the textile leaders stated.
They pointed out that in 2006, the fabrics export had decreased to 904 million meters from 925 million meters of earlier year (2005). The decline was the result of the tough competition in the open market in the aftermath of new World Trade Order (WTO).
The decline in fabrics exports in 2005 clearly pointed out that fabrics export was vulnerable to WTO challenges, and it was in this background that textile package of August 2006 allowed 3 percent R&D Support Facility to fabrics exports.
The textile leaders also stated that the weaving sector was a labour-intensive and livelihood of thousands of households of middle class and poor sectors of society depended upon the weaving sector. The enormity of this labour-intensive and value-adding sector could be gauged from the facts that more than 300,000 powerlooms are working in Faisalabad, Multan, Kasur and Jalalpur Jattan areas of Punjab above besides thousands of looms in Karachi, Swat and other different stations in the country.
It was imperative that such a vast sector of textiles which is contributing substantially towards value-addition and towards employment and livelihood of a big chunk of society as well as economy of the country should be facilitated with R&D Support Facility, they contended.