Only 30 percent small-scale units operational in Karachi: traders

Nearly 70 per cent of cottage industry units have closed down in the past 10 years, primarily because of the rising cost of electricity and the dumping of cheap Chinese products in local markets, traders said on Thursday.
"Power tariff has gone up by as much as 120 per cent over the past 10 years and only 30 percent of the small-scale industrial units are currently operating," President of the Karachi chapter of All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industry Mehmood Hamid said. A decade ago, there were 300,000 units in the city, he said.
Blaming the government for not introducing pro-industry policies, he said that the shortage of electricity had led to such massive closures. "Women, especially widows, and poor families suffered the most because of the onslaught of Chinese products in the local markets," he said.
Mehmood Hamid said that the FTA agreement with China allowed it to dump its products in Pakistani markets, affecting local readymade garments, shoes, toys and other key manufacturing sectors of the cottage industry. "The government's policy has resulted in rising poverty and unemployment," he observed.
There was no stop in the increase in power tariff, he said, adding that the cost of doing business was set to increase manifold, resulting in the virtual collapse of the local cottage industry.
At present, he said, the food business, which once believed to be profitable venture, was also showing a sharp decline because of shrinking purchasing power of the people in the wake of soaring inflation. He said sales of medical products had also declined.
"Sales in all categories of businesses have declined between 60 percent and 65 percent in recent days because of surging violence and uncertain domestic political situation," he said, adding that traders from other parts of the country were no longer visiting local markets to place orders.
Mehmood Hamid said that traders' security concerns remained unaddressed and the government's inaction against outlaws and lawlessness despite an increase in the incidents of extortion and targeted killings in Karachi was deplorable.
"Only 250 FC personnel have been deployed in old city areas where the government had pledged to provide at least 1,000 security officials to protect traders and customers in various market," he said.