The step-motherly treatment of modern and organised weaving sector by the government has resulted in its speedy closure. The sector is at the verge of destruction owing to withdrawal of key facilities to it and the recent manifold increase in cost of doing business.
The recent past incentives of government to the spinning and value-added sectors to trigger the textile sector growth, while completely ignoring the weaving sector has put it in the lurch The government's policymakers have seldom realised that absence of growth in weaving sector is proving to be the missing link in the continued and sustained growth of the textile sector.
It is because of the step-motherly attitude of the government towards the weaving sector that only 93 shuttle-less looms units are operational in the organised sector. The industry sources have confided to the Business Recorder some 30 per cent of the organised weaving sector has closed down so far, pushing more units to the razor edge amid unmatchable cost of doing business due to increase in mark up, utility tariff and absence of tangible incentives to stimulate the growth.
It is to be mentioned here that Pakistan was leading in setting up shuttle-less looms back in early 90s. But the situation reversed altogether and Pakistan is now standing at the bottom of the list as the growth of state-of-the-art shuttle-less looms sector in the region is concerned.
At present, Pakistan has only 30,000 shuttle-less looms against 300,000 power looms. The absence of sufficient number of shuttle-less looms is leaving the country with no option but to depend on low quality grey cloth produced by the power looms.
The government had attracted huge investment towards weaving sector in mid-80s by offering lucrative incentives to weavers. Prime objective behind the move was to take Pakistan ahead of yarn manufacturing in textile. Resultantly, heavy investment were made on setting up of shuttle-less looms.
It was mainly due to a strong string of government incentives like duty free import of machinery, availability of export refinance at the rate of three per cent and duty drawback to the sector. This move on part of government ensured exponential growth in weaving sector.
However, this honeymoon period proved short-lived for weaving industry. The government got attracted by the slogan of value-addition and all its energies were shifted to processing and downstream sector. From mid-90s onwards, the government either pampered the spinning or the value-added sector at the cost of weaving sector.
It was a general assumption in government quarters that Pakistan would soon be leader in knitwear and garments but all growth was restricted to bed linen. The state of the art weaving sector is taking its last breath and needed urgent attention of policymakers. The underline message of weavers for the government is that it is prime source of adding value to the lint and government should not ignore it while advocating for value-addition in Pakistan. They are of the view that government should immediately revise the facilities for the sector to rebuild the weavers of country.