Cracks appear as textile sector divided over Black Day

APTMA hails strike, value-added sector distances itself from protest

Our Correspondent October 15, 2015

APTMA hails strike, value-added sector distances itself from protest. PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Central Chairman Tariq Saud claimed that the textile industry observed a “very successful countrywide black day” by closing down operations on Wednesday.

“It was a successful strike and all the textile mills, including leading groups in spinning and weaving, right from Karachi to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa remained closed,” Saud claimed. “It is highly unfortunate that the current circumstances have forced us to hold a Black Day to mark our protest, as the government is not addressing our miseries.

“A drop of 21% in country’s exports for the month September 2015 against the corresponding period in Pakistan must by an eye-opener for the government. The drop is largely due to the burden of surcharges on the industrial electricity bills and uncontrolled dumping of subsidised goods from India,” he added.

The other side

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) stated that it has not observed the Black Day, as all units of the value-added sector from Karachi to Peshawar remained open on Wednesday.

In a statement, the PRGMEA said that the textile industry, barring the spinning units, in Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan and Sialkot continued work and did not participate in the strike.

“Value-added textile sector strongly opposes any duty on the import of cotton yarn,” stated a joint statement that was issued by Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) Chairman Kamran Chandna and PRGMEA Chairman Jahangir Anwar along with other associations.

“The demand of increasing import duty on cotton yarn comes from the spinning sector, which does not represent the entire textile sector,” the statement read.

Pakistan Apparel Forum Chairman Muhammad Jawed Bilwani also urged the federal government to take all the stakeholders of textile sector on board before taking any decision on the proposal of imposing 25% regulatory duty on cotton yarn import.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2015.

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