KARACHI, May 22: Lack of security and continued tension in the metropolis in the aftermath of May 12 bloody incidents have sent negative signals around the world and shattered the confidence of foreign buyers, who did not only postpone their visits but also held back orders worth millions of dollars.Business leaders contacted by Dawn on Tuesday were of the opinion that many of their buyers had cancelled their scheduled visits to Karachi as tension and uncertainty continues to haunt the city. “I was expecting some foreign buyers this week but instead received a message of cancellation,” lamented a leading hosiery manufacturer.
It is being generally feared that if the current situation is not reverted back to normal at the earliest exporters would lose export contracts worth millions of dollars and the trade gap would further widen.
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) chief coordinator Jawed Bilwani said that due to the May 12 violence in the city a large number of foreign buyers and their quality control personnel, who were scheduled to visit Karachi either for negotiations or for pre-shipment inspection, have cancelled their visits, which will ultimately affect exports.
He further said that exporters had already missed the last shipping schedule on Saturday, May 12, at Port Qasim and were compelled to make air shipments thereby incurring heavy expenses. The current situation, he said, have added to the woes of exporters who are already battling for their survival against heavy odds in the face of stiff competition from neighbouring countries.
Mr Bilwani apprehended that in the aftermath of May 12 violent incidents coupled with mounting tension and looming strikes in the city in coming weeks export trade will further suffer and this is going to have the roller coaster effect on the economy in general and industry in particular.
He said that production and export losses amounted to almost Rs1 billion a day since May 12 because a large number of export-oriented industries have closed down and if strike calls and mounting tension could not be stopped more industries would be closed down, which will ultimately result in mass scale unemployment of daily wagers.
Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry Chairman Masroor Ahmed Alvi said the incidents of May 12 pushed the city back to an era when foreign buyers were reluctant to visit the city and place their orders. He said that his members had complained that many foreign buyers cancelled their visits and were even reluctant to place orders.
He said that once you lose the credibility or create apprehensions no foreign buyer takes risk to place his orders and instead they immediately move to other sources to have firm supplies.This is going to have a spill-over impact on the city’s image, which could last for a year or so. Despite the fact that normalcy returned to the city within two days and the industry started its production but the city’s image was badly tarnished as world media also directly highlighted the May 12 violent and bloody incidents, he added.
Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) Masood Naqi said that no matter what level of production is achieved by the industry but as long as export contracts are not there it is of no good because no industry could afford to have huge inventory.
He said the city was fast moving towards real progress, particularly when the local government was undertaking large scale infrastructure development works in the metropolis. Never before, he said, infrastructure development of industrial areas was taken at such a large scale.
However, the unfortunate day of May 12 did not only hamper and retarded the progress but also badly damaged the image. Mr Naqi said lately the city had managed to improve its image and there was a lot of improvement in law and order but once again all have reeled back and the world opinion had changed once again, he added.