Govt assistance sought to push textile exports to $50bn

ISLAMABAD: The textile industry has filed a package of submissions with Prime Minister Mian Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif for his nod, which will help pave the way for increasing textile exports to $26 billion in the next fiscal year and $50 billion in next 5 years.

In a letter written on April 20, 2022 to the new chief executive of the country, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) urged him to ensure the continuation of Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET) to the textile Industry with RLNG price at $6.5/MMBTU and electricity at 7.5 cents/unit, immediate provision of gas connections to the new units coupled with extension of load for enhanced capacity and revival of sick units, and reaffirmation for export sector priority in gas allocation.

APTMA also called on the Prime Minister to ensure the cotton support price for this season was fixed at Rs8,000/maund for the upcoming season to encourage farmers to grow more cotton, making a point that the country every year loses at least $ 3 billion/annum on account of low production of cotton.

The textile sector demanded a review of duty on Polyester Staple Fibre and removal of anti-dumping duties to enable Pakistani export products to compete internationally.

It also asked the government to implement a weighted average cost of gas in letter & spirit, enabling uniform and rational gas or RLNG prices across the country.

In the letter, APTMA drew the PM’s attention towards the success story of exports showing the increase by 26 percent over the previous year to a record of $ 23.3 billion, the majority of which were textiles (61 percent).

It pleaded that the growth was enabled by implementation of Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET), investment of over $5 billion in expansion and establishment of 100 new textile units resulting in enhanced export capacity of $ 500 million per month.

“The reduction in area and lower productivity has reduced the cotton production from a high of 14.81 million bales to 7.44 million bales last year. Cotton has lost 1 million hectares during the last decade and if this area reverted to cotton than the country will produce an extra 5 million bales of cotton which will add 1.523 percent to GDP and will save the country’s $ 5 billion directly while generating incomes in the rural economy of Pakistan and playing a vital role in poverty alleviation,” the APTMA said in the letter.

Coming to the energy issues, APTMA said that the cost to the exchequer of Regionally Competitive Energy Tariffs has been 2.44 percent of textile exports which was a tiny fraction of the cost of potential foreign currency borrowing that the forex earnings were replacing.