Three pronged, phased and comprehensive strategy is imperative for the immediate revival and sustained development of the textile sector, said Engineer Ahmed Hassan acting president Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI).
Addressing a meeting to discuss the problems confronted by the Textile Sector here on Thursday, he said that the existing power looms should be upgraded in order to switch over to technical textile in addition to producing the traditional cheap grey cloth. "The old, obsolete and depreciated machinery should also be replaced to increase the profitability of power looms owners," he added. However, comprehensive value addition in the shape of fashion garments is necessary to earn optimum profit from the textile chain, he said and added that it is the last stage of cotton that could bring maximum profit.
In his address, Ahmed Hassan divided the weaving sector into organized and unorganized sector and said that the organized sector has its own sufficient resources and capacity to upgrade its production but for the unorganized sector, government has to dole out necessary facilities and incentives for the replacement of old and depleted machinery. He said that continuous use of obsolete machinery is not only effecting our production but is also a major cause to increase the cost of doing business. He said government has to carve out a workable strategy under which we could enhance the performance of old machinery in addition to convincing small weavers to replace the old machinery with high tech and sophisticated machinery. He also mentioned the technical textile center established in collaboration with Korea in National Textile University (NTU) and said that we must strengthen our linkages with these centers in order to adopt new technologies. He further said that in next phase the process of up-gradation should be started with the increase in profit of the SME units.
In this connection the government has to provide necessary incentives so that they could easily meet the additional expenditures for the purchase of new machinery. This will enable our SME sector to produce quality products which are in great demand in the international markets. Similarly these export products will get better prices, he added.
Engineer Ahmed Hassan also stressed optimum value addition in cotton related products. He said that our future objective should be to produce and export garments and fashion garments instead of exporting raw cotton yarn or low priced finished and semi finished products. He was also of the view that there was need for diversification in cotton chain. We should mix polyester with cotton to produce a wide range of textile products which cater the needs of different markets. He said that the government is ignoring this sector which is earning precious foreign exchange in addition to providing job to millions.
He said that textile ministry is rudderless as government has failed to appoint a dedicated person for this ministry. He said that in the absence of textile minister this sector was facing decline while government institutions are also eroding this well established sector in the name of diversification. He said that we support diversification but it doesn't mean to destroy the already established industry that was earning precious foreign exchange from the cotton chain. Engineer Ahmed Hassan demanded of Prime Minister a full time textile Minister who can work day and night for the revival of textile sector. In this connection he specifically spelled out his concern about Rs 180 Billion textile package and said that this package has not been implemented in its true spirit. Similarly the nonpayment of refund claims was yet another factor that has made the textile export a non lucrative business.