Unbearable production cost: Textile exporters warn of agitation

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

FAISALABAD: Leaders and businessmen representing textile export and hosiery manufacturing sector warned the government of agitation if their demands of slashing energy cost are not met.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, hosiery manufacturers and textile exporters said they were unable to bear the production cost, affecting commercial activities in worst possible manner, and were left with no option but to resort to massive layoff. They said if their workers hit the streets for agitation, they too would join them as they consider their workforce as part of their families.

The hosiery manufacturers and textile exporters said that due to the devastation caused by the floods which wiped out the cotton crop, Pakistan’s small factories making bedsheets and towels for export to the US and Europe have already started to shut down as no raw material was available.

Pakistan Textile Exporters Association’s patron-in-chief Khurram Mukhtar said that shortage of good quality cotton, high fuel  and energy cost, and poor recovery of payments from buyers were the primary reasons behind the closing of small textile mills.

It is pertinent to mention here that the presser by hosiery manufacturers and textile exporters came amid a sit-in by farmers from across Pakistan, being staged in Islamabad these days, and preparations by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for its long awaited Long March.