LAHORE, April 1: The textile industry has been registering a huge annual loss of Rs200 billion for the last four years due to the energy crisis and any additional cut in gas supply to industries in Faisalabad would further aggravate the situation, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) in a statement issued on Monday said.

In the statement, PTEA chairman Asghar Ali said the former government was unable to develop a long-term strategy to tackle the energy crisis and as a result the textile industry was suffering heavily.

Bumper cotton production was recorded in the country during this period, however due to gas and power shortage the industry was unable to utilise the crop for value-added production, he said.

“The Export-oriented textile sector has been facing lots of problems, especially in meeting the deadlines of exports. At the moment when the industrial production is registering negative growth and exporters are facing severe difficulties in dealing with foreign buyers, the increase in gas load shedding would leave them with no option but to close their units,” the PTEA chief maintained.

“Due to tariff concession, easy market access and good energy supply in Bangladesh, Turkey and Sri Lanka, some textile units have relocated there,” the statement added.