Textile export projections difficult to meet

Energy shortage and poor law and order hit production.

FAISALABAD/LAHORE: Textile exporters have expressed fears that the export target may be difficult to achieve this year following a 13 per cent decline in exports last month due to energy shortage, high interest rates and poor law and order.

Talking to the media here on Thursday, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Chairman Rana Arif Tauseef pointed out that textile exports fell 13.5 per cent to $1.1 billion in October.

“If this trend continues in the remaining months of the year, then the export target may prove difficult to achieve,” he said, adding factors like energy outages, high interest rates and law and order problems were hampering efforts to improve productivity and exports.

Meanwhile, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman Mohsin Aziz said the massive decline in textile exports is alarming and is likely to continue
in November.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2011.