ISLAMABAD – The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has demandedthe government to introduce long term textile policy soon.
APTMA Chairman Amanullah Machera said that Pakistani exporters are facingstiff competition from Bangladesh and Vietnam. The chairman was of the viewthat Pakistan can counter the competition only after exporters get a fiveyear textile policy at hand, so they know what will be the rates of taxesand energy prices.
Meanwhile, APTMA Punjab Chairman Adil Bashir has said that the governmentneeds to announce a long term and comprehensive textile policy if it wantsto see a return of capital investment. The industrialist added that if thegovernment accepts this demand, they are capable of doubling textileexports in the next five years.
APTMA officials informed that 70 percent of the textile industry is inPunjab, where more than 100 mills have been closed due to poor energypolicies of previous governments.
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The previous textile policies have not been much of a success story, as theTextile Policy 2014-19 failed to achieve all its targets including doublingvalue addition from $1 billion per million cotton bales to $2 billion permillion cotton bales, increasing textile exports from $13.1 billion to $26billion as well as creation of 3 million jobs in five years.
