LAHORE: The smuggled and under-invoiced textiles and clothes is destroying the local textile industry and damaging it around $6 billion annually.
The textile capacity can further be boosted if the government plugs the holes in the duty-free entry of textiles and clothing products. The smuggling, trade through Afghan Transit Trade and personal baggage etc are major sources of entry of the second hand, smuggled and imported textiles and clothing products in the domestic market.
The exports figures for the financial year 2013-14 reveal that the textile industry while consuming 3 million tones of all kinds of fibres produced textile goods, predominantly meant for exports. Out of this quantity textile products worth 2.5 million tones of fibre were exported in one form or the other while half a million remaining textile fibre was consumed by the domestic market.
APTMA Chairman SM Tanveer said that only a congenial environment will trigger production in Pakistan that could attract investment and create new jobs for millions.
