Bureau Report
FAISALABAD: Textile industry emerged as a major part of the industrialization process in Pakistan during the 1960s and there are about 1200 ginning factories in the country till date including 250 factories in Sindh and more than 720 factories in Punjab while remaining are running in other parts of the country.
According to textile experts, Pakistan is the 4th largest cotton producer and consumer country. It is among major textile manufacturing countries because it attained 8th position as exporter of textile products in Asia.
Although Pakistan is an agrarian country, its textile industry is considered as the backbone of the national economy because this sector is not only contributing 8.5% share in GDP but also providing job opportunities to 40 percent of total labor force.
The Textile industry of Pakistan is also producing artificial silk which resembles silk but costs less to produce and about 90,000 looms are working on this product across the country. According to experts, Pakistan is producing high quality fabric as compared to the fabric produced in other countries.
The Textile industry has an irresistible impact on the national economy and it is contributing 60 percent share in exports of Pakistan. Its textile units are working mainly in Karachi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Sialkot while its products are ranked as 3rd in the world. Spokesman of National Textile University Faisalabad (NTUF) Parvaiz Akhtar said that 511 spinning mills are working across the country mainly in Punjab and Sindh with a capacity of 13.40 million spindles and 199,000 rotors.
This industry is mainly focusing on spinning of coarse and medium fineness yarns.
Total raw cotton consumption of this industry is about 1.1 million bales while the installed capacity was 13.414 million spindles and 187,259 rotors in 2015-16, 1.414 million spindles and 198,801 rotors in 2016-17, 13.410 million spindles and 198,801 rotors in 2017-18 and 13.409 million spindles and 198,801 rotors in 2018-19. These spinning units produced 3397.3 million kilograms yarn in 2015-16, 3428.1 million kg yarn in 2016-17, 3430.1 million kg yarn in 2017-18 and 3431.2 million kg yarn in 2018-19.
He further said that the weaving sector is divided into two sub-sectors including organized mills and unorganized mills but looms of both sectors have lack of capacity to convert whole yarn produced in spinning mills into fiber/cloth.
