Rana Azhar Waqar, chairman of the All Pakistan Cotton Powerlooms Association (APCPA), said the local market price of cotton yarn has risen by 30-35 percent in the last three months due to cotton shortages.
If this problem is not resolved urgently by the government, it is feared that 200,000 employees will lose their jobs. They are demanding that the government reduce the shortage of prices for cotton and yarn or allow them to import India’s yarn.
If no action is taken by the government, a protest camp in Chowk Ghanta Ghar will be set up in collaboration with all industrial and trade groups, where other protest options will also be used.
Rana Azhar Waqar said that the government’s lack of interest in growing the production of cotton has upset local value-added textile sector exporters.
Export orders are available on the world market for many textile items, but Pakistani textile exporters are reluctant to accept new export orders due to the lack of cotton yarn available at the necessary quantities and prices.
He claimed that the current situation demanded that the government permit the importation of cotton yarn at zero rate duty with 32 single and less counts.
All exporters, importers and manufacturers should be permitted to import cotton yarn from any country before the prices of cotton yarn are brought under control.
All Pakistan Cotton Power Looms Association Vice President Muhammad Ajmal Kasuri said 25 percent of Faisalabad units were shut down because of yarn shortages. As a result, orders issued from overseas have also begun to be cancelled.
We get yarn every day and that’s why fifty percent of our production is down. We will be fully closed in a few days if the government does not open the Wagah border.
Exporters are also concerned that because of additional costs, 50 percent of orders issued from abroad will be cancelled.
Because of the cost at which we get yarn, we are not able to compete in the market.
In the market, there are requests, but we do not have a thread. Next week, textile manufacturers have also threatened to protest over rising yarn prices and unavailability.
