FAISALABAD, Dec 24: The Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) apprehends that the recent increase in gas tariff will have a negative impact on exports. At a meeting of textile exporters here on Friday, PTEA chairman Rana Arif Tausif said Pakistan’s textile exports were already facing a crisis owing to external and internal pressures.

He said statistics showed that textile exports to Europe had declined by 16.3 per cent in the first eight months of the current year, while a 38 per cent decline had been recorded in fabrics exports in the first four months of the current fiscal (July-October).

He said textile export were confronted with a 13.1 per cent anti-dumping duty, 12 per cent custom duty and high prices of inputs like electricity, petroleum and gas besides sea freight charges.

The PTEA chairman said India, China, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were offering concessions to their exporters by way of cheap electricity, labour, tax concession and currency conversion advantage, while Pakistan’s exports were burdened with multiple taxes.