Faisalabad's power looms resume work amid labour shortage

Almost half of the workers have gone to their hometowns due to Covid-19 and lockdown

FAISALABAD: The power loom industry only partially restored its operations on Monday due to the unavailability of skilled workforce, as almost half of the workers have gone to their hometowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed to prevent its spread.

The Faisalabad Yarn Market also reopened, but the power loom owners, cloth merchants, and brokers witnessed a shortage of some types of the product. The buyers were also waiting for the prices of yarn to settle as they kept fluctuating during the trading.

All Pakistan Cotton Power Looms Association (APCPA) Chairperson Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz appreciated the restoration of the industry but pointed out that it had been facing a crisis before the lockdown. He recalled that about 35 per cent of small-scale, 56-inch power looms were running in loss so their owners had sold them as scrap for Rs40 per kilogramme. Now the coronavirus had added to the problems, he added.

He said about 150,000 looms had resumed functioning in the country, including 50,000 air-jet and shuttle-less looms, with labour colonies and financing from the State Bank of Pakistan.

Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Rana Muhammad Sikandar-e-Azam Khan said new jobs should be created by encouraging labour-intensive industries. “Zero-rated schemes should also be revived for the five major export sectors,” he said and added that the present sales tax rate is very high and it must be rationalised with a maximum of only five per cent. He said other taxes should also be reduced.

He said power looms were the biggest domestic industry, which had suffered due to the lockdown.

“Around 100,000 families, directly and indirectly, depend on it,” he said, adding that the workers of the sector belonged to the lowest strata of the economy and were facing the worst ever crisis in history.

The FCCI leader demanded that the government announce a relief package for various sectors, including the power looms. He said petrol prices had plunged to the lowest level in history but no relief had been announced in the form of lowering of the electricity tariff. “The electricity rates should also be reduced by 30 per cent,” he opined.

He said the government had announced that it would pay three months’ electricity bills of the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. “No practical development has so far been witnessed in this respect.” Rather than helping those affected by the lockdown, the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company has not only added late payment surcharge in their bills but also severed their connections, he said.

He said the State Bank of Pakistan had announced concessional loans for the SME sector and small traders who would not lay off their workers during the lockdown. He alleged that banks were not properly guiding their clients, but were fomenting confusion by stating that the loans would be allowed only to the units that were paying salaries to their staff through cheques. He said the State Bank should issue clear directives that no bank should unnecessarily refuse to give the subsidised loan.

He said that as business activities had remained halted during the lockdown, the concessional loans should be given at zero markups. He said charging markup would be tantamount to adding financial burden on the closed businesses and industries.

Khan said that in order to revive the economy in the post-coronavirus period, the focus should be on traditional as well as non-traditional markets. “South America is an important but ignored market,” he said, adding that Pakistani exporters already working with the countries in the region should be appointed as honorary commercial counselors to maximise exports. “Similarly, we should also try to enter the untapped African markets,” he added. He said the adviser to the prime minister on commerce had agreed to appoint honorary commercial counselors in more countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2020.