The Government of Pakistan Raised The Country's Textile Export Target by US$ 2 Billion

The Government of Pakistan has raised the country’s textile export target by US$ 2 billion for the coming year, Minister of Textile Industry Abbas Shah Afridi has said.

Addressing the members of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) in Lahore, the Minister said he had come to the APTMA office to understand the issues confronting the textile industry and then support appropriate initiatives to help the industry reach its full potential.

He said the Government would not allow the country’s textile industry to shut operations because of energy constraints, and informed that the textile export target for the coming year has been raised by US$ 2 billion.

For ensuring the requisite gas and electricity to the textile industry on a priority basis, a proposal has already been placed for consideration of the Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), he said.

Earlier, APTMA chairman Yasin Siddik suggested various measures for the sustenance of Pakistan’s textile industry. These included increasing the production of cotton, implementation of the initiatives mentioned in the Textile Policy 2009-14, removal of duties on import of man-made fibre (MMF), liquidation of sales tax and duty drawback claims, prioritizing energy supplies at regionally competitive rates, reducing interest rates to bring them at par with those existing in the neighbouring countries, and formulation of a new Textile Policy to enable the textile industry to compete and grow in the global market.

APTMA Punjab chairman SM Tanveer apprised the Minister regarding the precarious situation of textile mills based in Punjab, especially due to non-availability of gas and long hours of electricity load shedding.

In the first eight months of the financial year 2013-14 that began on July 1, the exports of textiles and apparel from Pakistan increased by 8.28 percent year-on-year to $9.155 billion, according to the data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

During last fiscal year which ended on June 30, 2013, textile and clothing exports from Pakistan grew by 5.9 percent to $13.06 billion from $12.34 billion in 2011-12.