MULTAN, March 20: Privatization of profitable units of the National Fertilizer Corporation will cause a huge loss to the exchequer.

This was claimed by the labour union (CBA) of the Pak-Arab Fertilizers Ltd, Multan, in a press statement on Tuesday.

Union secretary Syed Nasir Ali criticized the government for privatizing the Pak-Saudi Fertilizers of Mirpur Mathelo, Sindh, saying the move would not only render thousands of workers jobless, but also deprive the national kitty of a profit of Rs1.75 billion.

He claimed the Pak-Saudi unit worth Rs35 billion was being handed over at a throwaway price of Rs7.33 billion to a firm which had bankrupted the Fauji-Jordan.

A union meeting demanded withdrawal of ‘false’ cases registered against workers of the Pak-Saudi fertilizer units of the NFC.

PCGA: The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association has expressed concern over slow buying by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

Association’s caretaker chairman Abdul Rasheed said on Tuesday that by March 15, cotton arrival at the ginneries across the country registered 9.86 million bales against 9.96 million bales during the same period last year, showing a decline of 1.02 per cent in its production.

Despite a decline in production, he said, as much as 1.5 million bales were still lying unsold at ginneries. He said last year some 8.6 million bales had been sold out by March 15, while this year only 8.3 million bales could be disposed of. He said the TCP was mandated to procure one million bales to ensure price stabilization in the market. But at the fag-end of the cotton season, it had bought only 0.187 million bales.

He urged the government to direct the TCP to lift the unsold cotton stocks immediately.