Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has expressed grave concerns over disparity in industrial gas prices within the country. Recent reduction of Rs 200/- per MMBTU in industrial gas prices will left unfruitful as Punjab based textile industry is already functioning on RLNG. In order to register protest and to announce further strategy against discrimination with Punjab based textile industry on gas prices, a joint press conference of all textile associations and FCCI has been called on Monday.
Briefing the newsmen after an emergent meeting here on Saturday, Chairman PTEA Ajmal Farooq and Vice Chairman Muhammad Naeem strongly resented over the discrimination with Punjab based textile industry on industrial gas prices. They termed it as unilateral decision which will provide relief to only Sindh based industries where gas is available round the year; whereas industries in Punjab are compelled to use Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) for their industrial needs and no relief is announced in RLNG prices.
Giving details they said after recently announced relief, system gas would be available to the industries in Sindh at Rs 400 per MMBTU; whereas Punjab based industries were paying over Rs 900 per MMBTU for RLNG. With such a huge gap of 120 percent in basic fuel's prices, how Punjab based industry could even compete within the country, they lamented. They condemned the Government's indifferent attitude towards the Punjab-based textile industry as it is facing a serious blow of non-viability due to the high cost of doing business.
They expressed deep remorse that the textile industry has been left unattended as no one is ready to kill the disparity in energy cost of textile industry based in Punjab against other provinces as well as the regional competitors. Revival of Punjab-based textile industry would be next to impossible in case the Government delayed the solution to the problem of high energy cost.
Concerning over high energy cost, he said continuous shortfall in exports especially in textile exports is an alarming one as the exports of textile sector contribute over 55 percent in total export earnings of the country and any decrease in textile exports indicates decrease in the foreign exchange earning of the country.
He termed the high production cost as a major hurdle in export growth which has not only stalled fresh investment in the textile sector but also hampered the export turn over. In case the declining trend continues with present pace, the Punjab-based textile industry would become unviable in domestic and international market, he apprehended. "We have already lost the advantages of GSP plus facility due to the prevailing situation," he added. Government should devise a comprehensive strategy to balance the energy prices within the country in order to accelerate the industrial pace and also to save livelihood of millions of workers, he added.
To revive the ailing textile industry, PTEA urged the economic managers of the country to come forward and support the industry for taking bold decisions to regain the phase of bringing back viability in the textile industry and economic prosperity of the country. They demanded to provide basic fuel of the industry on competitive price within the country.