LAHORE: Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) on Wednesday cautioned the government to address the issues of value-added textile sector as continued drop in exports might widen further due to Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement, and massive decline in cotton production and high import duty on yarn.
In a statement, PRGMEA Chief Coordinator Ijaz Khokhar asked the government to take preventive measures following the Vietnam-EU FTA as the emerging economy could capture Pakistani export market which had already shrunk owing to high energy cost and discriminating import duties on industry raw material.
“The exports of textile and clothing declined sharply during July-Dec 2015 along with low cotton yield in Punjab.”
Khokhar asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to personally direct policy-makers to work for reduction in all input costs, otherwise export-oriented industries would not only close down their operations, but millions of workers would also lose jobs.
He said due to non-availability of latest fabric locally, the garment sector currently had a limited product line for export market, adding foreign buyers were demanding new garments on G3, G4 and technical fabric raw material which were not being produced by Pakistani weavers.
He underscored the need for formulation of sector-wise policies with the consultation of stakeholders for bringing boom in exports of the country.
