Lahore, 25 Dec 2020 : Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association has said that a huge number of export orders are being received by the value-added garment industry, however, exporters are unable to finalize them due to unavailability of fabric, especially the denim fabric in the country.
PRGMEA (NZ) vice chairman Adeeb Iqbal urged the government to also abolish duties on the import of fabrics as well as the denim fabric in line with the import relaxation provided on import of cotton yarn, as value-added garment sector is facing severe shortage of basic raw material of fabrics, which may lead to a drastic decline in value-added textile export.
He said that it was the right decision to remove Regulatory Duty on import of cotton yarn, which will accelerate the country’s textile exports but unfortunately the garment, which is the major sector of textile chains, has been neglected, as the reduction in yarn import duty will not benefit it.
It is unfortunate that the government’s cotton policy has reduced the country’s cotton production target from 14 million bales to 9 million bales. Due to the shortage of cotton yarn textile exports were fallen in previous months. He said that the cotton crisis in Pakistan was the biggest threat to the value-added textile sector than corona. The government resolved the issue timely by abolishing import duty on yarn to avoid the closure of the textile industry and a loss of jobs of millions of workers, he said.
“The government should now take the notice of shortage of fabrics, as foreign buyers were demanding shipments from them in 45 days while mills were giving them denim fabric in three months. In such a situation how they can fulfill orders,” he asked.
Adeeb Iqbal said that the textile sector is an important sector of the industrial economy and problems of this sector should be resolved on priority basis. He said that huge export orders have come in the textile sector and the economy cannot afford to close the factory even for a day. He said that the country is facing another severe wave of coronavirus and corona cases have been on the rise. He said that government guidelines are being fully implemented to keep the wheel of the industry running smoothly.
He called for taking steps for the removal of hurdles hindering exports of garment sector. He said that due to non-availability of latest fabric locally the garment sector currently has a limited product line for export market, adding that foreign buyers were demanding new garments on G3, G4 and technical fabric raw material which are neither available nor produced by Pakistani weavers.
