Chairman APTMA Punjab S M Tanveer has said the textile industry exports are on a nose-dive plunge from April 2014 to August 2014 in basic textile due to energy constraints, particularly in the province of Punjab. He said the textile industry exports data reflects that the exports of cotton cloth and cotton yarn, comparing with the corresponding periods, have declined respectively to 52% and 12% in August 2014, 43% and 33% in July 2014, 35% and 27% in June 2014, 36% and 22% in May 2014 and 36% and 22% in April 2014.
This unprecedented decline in exports of basic textile over the last five months indicates that a sizeable textile capacity has either been closed or non-operative, he asserted. According to him, the prime factor behind the closing down and non-operational capacities is short supplies of energy, particularly in the province of Punjab where 70% of total textile industry of Pakistan is located.
Tanveer said the operations of basic textile industry are energy intensive, fed from independent feeders with nominal line losses and fully compliant in bills payment. However, he said, the DISCOs have been unwilling to meet their energy needs. Similarly, the gas availability is also under pressure for Punjab-based textile industry as the SNGPL is providing gas only for eight hours a day at present against 24/7 supplies in other provinces.
He apprehended that a constant five months decline in exports in quantity terms is due to the widening gap of energy equilibrium in Punjab against other provinces. The prevailing unit price of cotton cloth and cotton yarn could have fetched an additional one billion dollar exports to the country in five months provided that required energy is supplied to the Punjab-based textile mills, he said, adding, "The country would be at a loss of $2.5 billion exports if energy constraints continue for the remaining part of the year.
Does Pakistan not need foreign exchange by letting the industry to operate on full potential, keep the employment intact and the economy on the growth trajectory, he posed a question to the policy-makers. Chairman APTMA Punjab has urged the government to make sure uninterrupted energy, both gas and electricity, supply at an intra provincial competitive price to let the Punjab-based textile industry grow in the larger industrial and economic interests of the country.
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