LAHORE, Dec 6: Businessmen from Sialkot fear a 30 per cent plunge in the total annual exports of about $650 million from their city due to massive cancellation of orders in the wake of the Sept 11 events.

All export sectors, except surgical instruments industry, have been hit very hard by the Sept 11 events and the ensuing economic slowdown in the US and elsewhere in the world, Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Dawood Chathha said here Thursday.

He was speaking to reporters at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry before iftar-dinner hosted by LCCI president Dr Khalid Chowdhry for the presidents of chambers from across Punjab.

Chathha said the leather garments industry was hit most due to cancellation of export orders. “The surgical instruments survived the current crisis because the buyers can’t purchase such quality products at so low rates from anywhere in the world,” he added.

He said the economic recession in the American economy too was a major factor responsible for the reduction in exports.

He bitterly complained against the government and banks’ step- motherly behaviour with the businessmen from Sialkot.

He said the city had a big cottage industry and immense potential for exports that remains unexploited mainly because of lack of cheap finance and official patronage to the city. He said even the “city roads had been built by the business community on a self-help basis”.

Speaking to reporters, Sargodha Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Abdul Samee Sani said the chamber would provide land to the government for the establishment of seasonal dry port in the city. He said finance minister Shaukat Aziz had already given his consent “in principle to set up the seasonal dry port to cater to the needs of exporters of citrus”.

Sargodha exports some 4,500 containers worth about $80 million of citrus every year to Far East Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, Central Asia, and several other places across the globe. He said: “Citrus exports to Central Asia are likely to be hit this year as a result of the current Afghan crisis.”

Sani said there were 52 citrus processing and grading units in Sargodha.

He said the Punjab government had sanctioned a grant of Rs3.70 million for setting up a Citrus Research Institute at Sargodha.

LCCI president Dr Chowdhry said the iftar-dinner was hosted in order to provide the business leaders from Punjab to sit together and discuss ways and draw up some “suggestions for the government to kick-start the local economy”.