Bureau Report
LAHORE: The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association newly-elected leadership on Monday vowed that value-added textile industry would continue to work closely with the government with a view to enhance the exports and revive the growth momentum.
The PHMA newly-elected zonal chairman Faisal Mheboob Sheikh and chief coordinator Adil Butt, in a meeting held here, asked the government to appreciate the role of value-added apparel sector for its potential to harvest maximum benefits of GSP Plus, providing mass employment to the jobless population of the country.
They further said that GSP window had opened tremendous opportunities by way of inflow of abundant export orders which the industry would not be able to execute if liquidity problem of the industry is not resolved at the earliest.
Faisal Mheboob Sheikh stressed the need for adopting new technology so that Pakistan’s exports may be able to cope with the emerging challenges in international arena. He urged the government to undertake thorough research and also brief the SMEs of the details of such challenges.
The PHMA zonal chief hoped that the government would help boost country’s exports especially of the value-added textile, while all the macro and micro issues of the trade and commerce would also be addressed. The new office-bearer said that growth of value-added textile industry was a must to steer the industry of worse situation and contribute to the exports of the country. He observed that the domestic industry should be allowed to grow while enjoying the right to avail opportunities against the competitors.
The PHMA chief coordinator Adil Butt said the benefits of the renewed GSP Plus status can only be harvested by maximum value-addition in finished products rather than exporting only raw materials, which cannot be possible without relaxation in import policies.He termed the knitwear industry as number one in the ranking of export-products.
Adil Butt called for giving a boost to the export sector by adopting diversified marketing techniques and extending practical support to the industry, and asked the knitwear and garment exporters to prepare themselves for meeting the global challenges so that momentum of exports could not only be maintained, but also new opportunities be fully exploited.
Adil Butt pointed out that entire textile sector is presently under disarray owing to high cotton yarn prices owing to its shortage in the country. What is disturbing the value-added textile industry is the non-availability of cotton yarn in the domestic market putting millions of dollars export orders at stake, he said. He asked the government to pay immediate attention to resolve the issue of cotton shortage and its quality.
