PHMA wants electricity and gas prices maintained

FAISALABAD: The All Value Added Textile Associations have demanded that electricity and gas prices for the textile industry be maintained and sought immediate payment of refunds. They said that if the policy of electricity and gas at special rates was abolished, then the industry would be shut down and thousands of workers would become unemployed.

Mian Kashif Zia, chairman of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (North Zone), along with the former central chairman of PHMA Chaudhry Salamat Ali and officials of other associations, held an emergency press conference at the PHMA office on Tuesday.

Kashif Zia said that value added textile exports should be increased to get rid of external debts, dictation of IMF and other international financial institutions. Chaudhry Salamat said the government and all the stakeholders should make decisions in the national interest with confidence. He said that value added textile sector was not only a source of valuable foreign exchange for the country but also provides employment to millions of people. Atif Munir Sheikh, President of Chamber of Commerce, said that industrialists have no political agenda. In order to strengthen the economy, all stakeholders should take decisions with confidence.

Ameer Ahmed, Vice Chairman, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, said that from 2021, 'DLTL' notification has not been issued due to which the payment of refunds was being delayed and the industry was facing a shortage of capital.

Syed Zia Alimdar Hussain, former president of the Chamber of Commerce, said that exports have increased from 18 billion USD to 32.32 billion USD in the last three and a half years. He said that if the government increased the prices of electricity and gas, it would gradually reduce exports and the country would go bankrupt. Former Central Chairman PHMA, Dr. Khurram Tariq, said that entire burden of non-recovery is placed on the industry, which increases the production cost of the industry. Waheed Khaliq Ramen, chairman of the Council of Power Loom Owners Association, said that if the government did not reduce electricity tariffs, workers, as well as industry owners, would be on the streets. Shakeel Ansari of Sizing Association said that raw material prices have more than doubled in the last few months.

Meanwhile, the government has assured the textile exporters it would pay the outstanding refunds of Rs42 billion in the month of June in terms of DLTL.

Federal Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail also appreciated the suggestions made by the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association regarding on electricity and gas prices for the export industry and promised to consider them. In this regard, Patron Chief of Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Khurram Mukhtar, Chairman Sohail Pasha, and Secretary-General Azizullah Gohar met Federal Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail and Minister of State for Petroleum Musaddiq Malik in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss the problems facing the industry.

The delegation told the ministers that textile exports have increased by 30% in dollar terms during the current financial year and the volume of textile exports was expected to be more than 20 billion USD by the end of the financial year.

The federal ministers assured them that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif would make a formal announcement on his return from a visit to Turkey, while the federal finance minister and petroleum adviser would visit Faisalabad in July at the invitation of the PTEA.