Textile exports can earn additional billions: Mian Zahid Hussain

KARACHI – President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said textile exports can fetch extra billions of dollars for the country.

The importance of the textile sector has increased manifold in the current global economic scenario which must be realized, he said. 

Speaking at a meeting of FPCCI Standing Committee for Textile, Dying, and Processing, on the video link in which business leaders from Karachi, Lahore, and other cities participated, Mian Zahid Hussain said that the issues confronting textile sector should be resolved so that it can play an effective role in national development. 

The veteran business leader said that increased taxes, costly energy, the demand for bank guarantees by gas utilities and delayed refunds has increased the cost of doing business which should be reduced. 

Chairman of the committee, Irfan Saeed said that the textile processing industry is in tatters which should be bailed out. Taxes, energy and exchange rate erosion has taken a toll on this important sector while the cost of raw material has been increased by 30 to 35 percent. This sector is finding it difficult to fulfill commitments dying and printing, therefore, duties on the import of raw material should be reduced, he demanded. 

Deputy Convenor of the committee Tahir Mahboob said that extension in GSP Plus for two years is a welcome development. He said that exporters are preferring only six countries in the EU while focussing on the rest of the countries can increase exports substantially. 

He said that commercial consular should play their role to improve exports which will reduce the gap between imports and exports and diversification has become imperative as 80 percent Pakistani exports to the EU are textile-based. He noted that water treatment plants should be installed in industries otherwise, the EU can stop buying Pakistani textiles which will result in a loss of four billion euros. 

Mian Zahid Hussain said that apart from all other things, the coronavirus has also reduced prices of cotton which will provide relief to our textile sector. He called upon the government to start working immediately so that next cotton crop could be saved from collapse. 

He said that President FPCCI Anjum Nisar is busy in serving the business community and forwarding research-based proposals to the government which will go a long way in resolving the issues of industrialists and traders.