KARACHI: Sohail Nisar, Senior Vice Chairman, Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), while expressing deep concern over the current devastating situation of the textile industry, has appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to consider their legitimate demands to prevent the textile industry from being destroyed and formulate policies which promote the industrialization, otherwise it is likely to shut down. As a result, millions of workers will become unemployed.

Sohail Nisar cited data released by the Institute of Statistics Pakistan, saying that textile exports reduced for the second consecutive month in November while direct investment is also seen decreasing more than 50%.

He said "Textile exports dropped from $ 1.736 billion to 18.15% in the same month of last year to $ 1.42 billion. Textile exports declined by 5.1% from July to November, decreasing $ 7.36 billion in the same period of fiscal year 2022 compared to $ 7.76 billion."

PYMA Vice Chairman added that supply chain issues, capital and energy shortage, difficulties in importing of raw materials, including industrial machinery, had intensified the crisis of the textile industry with the backbone of the country's economy in the domestic economy.

Sohail said, "The productive activities of the textile industry had been halved and if the crisis continues, it is feared that the monthly exports of textile next month will be less than $ 1 billion. Therefore, the government should take effective steps to get the textile industry out of the crisis so that the industries continue to operate and the completion of export orders can be ensured in a timely manner."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022