KARACHI, Oct 11: All Pakistan textile Mills Association (Aptma) chairman Nadeem Maqbool has expressed concern over the government’s decision for allowing TCP to procure one million bales of lint cotton at Rs1,855 per maund of grade III.

In a statement Aptma chief pointed out that TCP will tender this cotton for export to competitors at a colossal loss to the exchequer.

He said “our competitors will get raw material at a price much lower than the price offered to the local textile industry. Nadeem Maqbool said that the last sale of cotton concluded by TCP at 30.06 cents per pound, had allowed “ our competitors to buy cotton at Rs1,400 whereas textile mills were purchasing cotton at around Rs1,600 per maund.

In view of current international prices of cotton, Aptma chairman feels that there will be wider margin between the price paid by textile mills and competitors.

According to Maqbool, the world textile markets continues to be very grim and there is minimal off-take of yarn and fabric in Pakistan’s traditional export markets.

There is growing concern amongst the value added textile exporters of buyers’ reluctance to purchase Pakistani garments and made-ups due to recessionary trends in the world economies.

The local textile industry, he said, was saddled with high stocks of yarn and grey fabrics which “we fear will turn into losses”.

Aptma chairman urged the government to keep in mind the prevailing situation in the international markets before taking any decision which may render the industry uncompetitive.

Nadeem Maqbool said that although Aptma agreed with the government on its support to the agriculture sector, a better and more effective way to help farmers would be through direct subsidies.

In a similar statement the Karachi Cotton Association chairman Zahid Bashir urged the government to review its policy of directing TCP to procure one million bales of cotton.