Vice Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) Naeem Ahmad has said that the government failed to resolve the issue of non-availability of yarn to value-added textile sector. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday he said that the industry was nearing to collapse but the government was reluctant to resolve the issue.
PHMA Vice Chairman urged the government and concerned authorities to take immediate steps to ban export of yarn, adding that for the past four months, cotton yarn was not available to the value-added textile sector in Pakistan. "It is feared that hundreds of thousands of workers might lost their jobs due to closure of manufacturing units in the country," he added.
"It is important to mention that the export of one Kg yarn can only fetch one dollar from the international market whereas the garments and other finished products made from that one kg of yarn can fetch more that 8 dollars," he argued, adding therefore, priority of the government should be ensuring supply of cotton yarn to local industry so that export of value added products and employment of workers should not suffer.
Vice Chairman PHMA said that presently yarn was not available to value-added sector in Pakistan while it was being supplied to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and China, which are our competitors in international markets. "Resultantly our competitors are being strengthened in this way," he added. He demanded of the government to immediately impose a cap on export of yarn so that local industry could continue to honour its commitments with overseas buyers.