He said the government had supported the industry last year and provided the mills with gas five days a week. - File photo

LAHORE: Current rains in Sindh and south Punjab are feared to slash cotton harvest this year by about 1.5 million bales to 14-14.5 million bales, according to an assessment made by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma).

Though the rains will rob the country of the expected cotton exportable surplus but the revised output will be sufficient to meet the requirements of the domestic spinning industry.

“We expect the rains to reduce crop size by one million bales in Sindh and half a million bales in the cotton belt of Punjab,” Gohar Ejaz, chairman of Aptma, told a press conference on Tuesday. “Still, it will be for the first time in 10 years the spinning industry will have enough raw material for its consumption,” he said, adding the mills will need Rs400-500 billion to procure the entire crop from the growers at the current export parity price.

He said the reduction in the size of local crop will keep global cotton prices at or above one dollar per pound. He said the sowing of early varieties saved the crop from a bigger damage.

Advocating cut in the interest rates Gohar claimed that interest payments on all loans obtained by the textile industry constituted over eight per cent of its total exports of $14 billion last year.

“How can the industry remain viable and compete in the world markets at the current interest rates?

The government must cut the cost of borrowing to 6-7 per cent. If it cannot, then it should announce a five per cent discount on all textile industry loans.

Further, he said, the government should also announce its policy for the distribution of gas shortages during winter.

He said the country would suffer a loss of $4 billion in export earnings if the textile industry is not provided gas seven days a week.

He said the government should also announce a separate “winter” gas tariff for domestic consumers to prevent waste of the fuel. He said the use of gas for heating purposes needed to be discouraged and gas theft, which has risen to 12 per cent, stopped.

“Wasting gas to burn inefficient geysers and room heaters is criminal. It is not the way for Pakistan to prosper and grow.

“We have three months to formulate a policy and frame a strategy for gas management during winter to protect exports and jobs”.

He said the government had supported the industry last year and provided the mills with gas five days a week. “We are hopeful that we will get gas seven days a week during the next winter.”