Despite government’s promises of turning around the textile exports through bailout packages and other reforms, the overall textile exports continued to present a dismal look at the end of 2016 — over three and a half year since the current government came into power. All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Aamir Fayyaz has said that the industry has been rendered unviable by the high cost of doing business as a consequence of which textile exports fell further by $600 million. Total exports are apprehended to fall by $1.2 billion in the current year as per the present trend. Foreign exchange receipts on trade account are necessary to be revived and given a new impetus to arrest the country’s trade deficit that has swelled to an alarming and unmanageable level of $28.3 billion. This gap cannot be bridged until export-led growth policy initiatives are undertaken earnestly. He said due to unrealistically high energy price in the province — where 70 percent of the country’s textile industry is located — the Punjab-based textile industry was exposed to a severe disparity in energy prices. Resultantly, a bulk of the textile manufacturing capacity lies underutilised and over 70 textile mills have shut down in the last six months. The two primary raw materials of textile industry, cotton and human-made fibres, to which the textile industry adds value for export, have to be imported as their domestic availability falls far short of the industry’s requirement.
