India is Rs6.5 per unit that in Pakistani rupees is equivalent to Rs10.27. They said after special discount of Re1 per unit for textile sector the price comes down to Rs9.13 per unit.
This, they said, is higher than the current Pepco power rate of Rs12.50, which is consumed by the spinners in Punjab. Even if the government brings down the power rates to the level of gas-run mills the issue would not be resolved, as capacities in gas-run spinning mills in Sindh are also closed, they said.
The experts said uptake of basic textile products in the global markets is an issue, but no policy measure could resolve this issue.
High textile growth economies such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia have added substantial spinning capacities that have reduced their dependence on Pakistani or Indian yarn, they said, adding that getting export orders and their uptake of yarn has also declined.
Not only the Pakistani spinners, but their counter parts in India are also suffering from the issue of the disposal of the yarn produced by them. This is the reason that spinners in Pakistan are sitting with huge stocks, they said. Weaving mills have also witnessed a decline in their fabrics export and are not lifting yarn in sufficient quantities.
A spinner M I Khurram said that the yarn exports have suffered in line with the decline in the global uptake.
He said yarn exports average over 55,000 tons per month that is 10 percent lower than the average yarn exports of 60,000 tons per month, adding that it is mostly the domestic market where the spinners suffer.
Of the three million tons yarn produced annually in Pakistan, around 80 percent is consumed by the exporting sector, he said, adding that the remaining 20 percent is being consumed for domestic products. This market is taken over by imported yarn that is hurting the domestic spinning industry. Khurram said that the government did impose 10 percent regulatory duty on yarn imports, but regretted that the importers have nullified the impact of that duty through under-invoicing and wrong declaration of goods.