Textile: Gas outages take toll on exports

FAISALABAD: Continuous suspension of gas supply has hurt industrial production badly and exports have dropped substantially, threatening the livelihood of daily wage-earners, say industry stakeholders. Talking to the media here on Monday, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Chairman Rana Arif Tauseef said textile exports fell 14% to $1.02 million in October 2011 compared to $1.18 million in the same month of previous year. Similarly, textile exports dropped 20% to $819 million in November 2011 against $1.03 million in November 2010. “If this trend continues, the textile export target will remain a far cry,” he said, adding many export units had stopped functioning, leading to cancellation of export orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2012.