APTMA warns unemployment of 10m textile workers

LAHORE: The patron-in-chief of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Gohar Ejaz has warned that approximately 10 million textile workers will be unemployed in Punjab, ARY News reported on Monday.

The APTMA patron-in-chief Gohar Ejaz wrote a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and said that approximately 10 million textile workers will be unemployed in Punjab and the country would face a massive financial dent in terms of a $10 billion drop in exports.

He asked PM Shehbaz Sharif to adopt emergency steps as the country is facing a massive drop in exports. Ejaz stated in his letter that the textile exports increased up to 55% in the recent two years due to competitive energy rates.

He said that the energy rates are higher in Punjab as compared to Sindh. He demanded the federal government fix the gas price at $7 per MMBtu for the export sector across the country and the electricity price at Rs19.99 per unit.

The APTMA patron-in-chief said the export units should be given priority in gas supply.

READ: APTMA WRITES TO PM SHEHBAZ OVER TEXTILE INDUSTRY ISSUES

Earlier in the month, it was learnt that Pakistan’s textile exports witnessed a decline of 12% year-on-year to $1.36 billion in January 2023.

On a year-on-year basis, textile exports stood at $1.55 billion in January of the previous fiscal year.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data, the exports of the textile industry dropped 8% from July to January. The textile exports remained at $10.8 billion from July to January as compared to last year’s $10.93 billion.

The decline was witnessed at a time when the federal government increased focus on exports to earn more foreign exchange but the textile sector’s performance remained unimpressive in the global markets.

Meanwhile, the closure of 150 textile mills raised the alarm bell regarding the severe crisis in the textile sector due to skyrocketing energy prices.

According to details, a total of 150 spinning and weaving textile mills in the country were closed in the last five months due to an increase in the energy crisis in Pakistan, which results in the unemployment of at least 2 million people.