Punjab Industries Raised The Fury of Pakistan Textile Industry Representatives

Breach of commitment by gas authorities to restore gas supply to Punjab industries from October 29,  
Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Chairman Asghar Ali and Vice Chairman Muhammad Asif said producers and exporters prepared their production and supply plans and invited labour based on the gas authorities' commitment. However, instead of restoring supply, the gas utilities extended the load-shedding on its own, without taking stakeholders in confidence.
 
They said if the Government is not in a capacity to bridge the demand-supply gap, it should have at least invited all stakeholders on board and prepared a proper load-shedding plan, thus allowing the producers to adjust their production schedules in lines with gas supply schedules.
 
Also, they questioned as to how it would be possible for the exporters to honour their export commitments and make timely delivery of their Christmas orders, given such production breaks.
 
The arbitrary load-shedding has halted the manufacturing process, and it badly hit exports and has caused the industry to suffer a loss of around Pk Rs. 1-1.5 billion, besides raising employment concerns for millions of workers, the PTEA officials said.
 
Expressing concern over a steep fall noted in value as well as volumes of bed-wear exports during September, mainly due to power crisis, Mr. Ali informed that as per official statistics bed-wear exports fell by 7.92 percent year-on-year in terms of value and 7.73 percent year-on-year in terms of volume, during September this year.