Textile bodies put off black day protest plan

Will hold roundtable on energy supply without disparity

LAHORE: Varying lobbying groups of the textile industry will hold a roundtable conference by the end of this week to deliberate on a single point - availability of electricity and gas to all provinces at regionally competitive prices without any disparity.

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab Chapter Chairman Syed Ali Ahsan announced this on Monday.

He also said textile bodies would delay their December 6 (Tuesday’s) black day plan following assurance from Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that he would take up industrial issues with the prime minister and get them resolved.

A delegation of all textile associations will also call on Federal Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Dec 6 to outline the challenges faced by the industry.

These decisions were taken in a meeting of leading textile associations at the Aptma Punjab office. Representatives of the All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, Council of Power Looms and other value-added industry groups were present in the meeting.

Ahsan said 70% of spinning, 55% of weaving and 60% of processing industries were located in Punjab, but they had become unviable because of high cost of doing business.

Eventually, 35% capacity of the industry has remained unutilised with a 10% rise in the cost of doing business in Punjab compared to the industry running in other provinces. In the absence of a level playing field for Punjab’s textile industry, exports of yarn and fabrics had dropped 30% and 35% respectively in quantitative terms, he added.

However, he was hopeful that industry issues would be addressed with intervention of the chief minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2016.

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