Pakistan Ready-made Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association's (PRGMEA) central chairman Shaikh Mohammad Shafiq and South Zone chief Irfan Ali on Wednesday demanded of the government to immediately announce a relief package for textile industry.
The textile industry that was earlier badly affected due to lingering electricity and gas crises was now facing another crisis in the wake of imposition of regulatory duty on the import of cotton yarn, they added. Through an SOS message, both the office-bearers of the PRGMEA, appealed to the prime minister to immediately announce a relief package for the textile industry in order to overcome the issue of fast-declining exports and losing market share in the global textile trade.
They deplored that though Pakistan is the 5th largest cotton producing country, its performance in value addition has been a dismal failure. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), textile exports have declined to $1.093 billion in September 2015 from $1.110 billion over the previous month of August 2015, reflecting a decline of 1.52 per cent.
The PRGMEA office-bearers said that it was because of deteriorating law and order and shortage of electricity and gas, factories were unable to operate smoothly for ensuring timely delivery of whatever limited orders they had managed to get from foreign buyers. They urged the government to immediately withdraw the regulatory duty imposed on the import of cotton yarn.