Textile sector unlikely to meet export orders
TAHIR AMIN
ISLAMABAD: The government may suspend gas supply to the textile sector for the next three months (December to February), which will make it difficult for the textile units to meet export orders.
Official sources told Business Recorder on Thursday that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources was likely to move a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) soon, seeking suspension of gas supply to the industry for three months. Currently, the industry in Punjab was getting two days a week gas supply, they added.
The sources said that the textile industry, which accounted for 50 percent of the total foreign exchange earnings, was likely to face an estimated loss of $2-3 billion if the proposed gas suspension plan was implemented.
Expressing serious reservations over the plan, the sources said that currently the industrial sector was facing ten hours power loadshedding daily, and if gas supply was completely suspended, the industry would not be able to operate. Under the Textile Policy (2009-14), it was committed to providing regular gas and power supply to the industry. However, the policy was never implemented in its true spirit, resulting in huge loss to the industry.
The sources warned that the proposed gas suspension plan would result in massive layoffs, as about 40 percent of the total jobs came from textile industry.
They said that the European Union’s International Trade Committee had recently voted in favour of Pakistan for Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) plus. The GSP plus package of trade concessions, to be effective from January 1, 2014, still needed to be formally approved by the European Parliament, before implementation. The formal approval of the EU Parliament would allow almost 20 percent of Pakistani exports to enter the EU market at zero and 70 percent at preferential tariff, including textile and its products, which would greatly help boost exports. However, the proposed plan to suspend gas supply for three months would handicap Pakistan to fully utilise the EU preferential trade deal, the sources added.
