HYDERABAD: President Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Adeel Siddiqui has emphasized the need of initiating concrete measures to boost the textile industry.
“The textile industry of the country is facing serious difficulties after the cotton crop was washed away by rains and floods, and the government faces a gigantic challenge of managing the textile industry,” he said in a statement issued here on Saturday.
He said due to damages to the cotton crop a shortfall of five million bales was expected in the cotton sector. This could require $ 2 billion to import cotton bales while the country was already faced with a crisis of foreign exchange reserves, he added.
The HCCI president said that according to one estimate, textile sector exports worth $14 billion and $19 billion were reported in 2021 and 2022 respectively. He said the Pakistani textile industry was also facing issues of increasing tariff of gas and electricity besides price hikes, and these were bigger challenges.
He said that there was a shortfall of 2 million tons of RLNG as well and feared that textile exports might decline by $5 billion. He urged industrialists to consult the Pakistan government and come up with a plan on how to increase cotton production on war footing.
The HCCI President said the federal government should benefit from the experience of chambers of commerce and industries to find solutions to economic issues and added that economic stability was badly needed under prevailing conditions.
Adeel Siddiqui said joint efforts including the textile sector, farmers and business leaders need to play their role in ensuring growth in trade and business. He said that the industrial sector plays a key role in running the economy of the country, thus the government should focus on it.
He said that the government should keep in mind the recession in the global market as well and come up with a policy in this regard. He said that this would enable exporters to export Pakistani products in the international market easily. He said that neighboring countries prioritize the cost of production to ensure growth.
