May 21, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1429

FAISALABAD, May 20: Prices of grey fabrics have registered a sharp increase because of the textile exporters’ influx into the markets.

During a survey it is revealed that steep rise in fabrics prices was the result of short production by looms due to hours-long power fluctuations. The power outages forced the exporters to purchase fabrics from the local market as their suppliers failed to meet their orders ahead endangering their shipment schedules.

Despite rise in the cloth prices the exporters could not get their required quantity immediately owing to shortage of cloth. It is also revealed that a few types of grey fabrics were being sold in the black worrying exporters a lot, who were in the dire need of such varieties.

Earlier, the local grey cloth markets have been incurring losses for a couple of months as exporters were not doing business with them and instead signed contracts with weaving mills.

Faisalabad is known as the textile capital of Pakistan and yarn and grey cloth markets are the hubs of textile trade activities. The survey revealed that various narrow width varieties of grey cloth made up of cotton and polyester cotton surged from Rs2 to 3 per metre. Prices of wider width of cloth of both PC and cotton also registered a rise of Rs3 to 5 per metre during last few days.

Nadeem Chishti, a grey cloth trader, told Dawn the markets had been wearing a deserted look even in peak hours a few weeks back. However, now the situation is gradually improving and traders have been recovering their losses.

Arif Ali, an employee at a grey cloth godown in Factory Area, said they were sitting idle at their work places but now they were busy for last few days due to high demand of fabrics by the exporters.