LAHORE: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) on Wednesday rejected 20 days suspension of gas supply to industry by the SNGPL under its gas load management plan and said that it would lead to the layoff of one million workforce with export losses of $1.3 billion.

An Aptma spokesman said the SNGPL has announced the load management schedule without taking the textile industry into confidence. The association fears that many textile units will be closed during the gas loadshedding for annual turnaround of Qadirpur Gas Field.

He said the textile industry was already facing huge inventory losses due to crash of cotton prices in the international market.

This situation is already translating into huge non-performing loans (NPLs) worth Rs600 billion so far, the spokesman.

According to him, the textile industry is already running 30 per cent below capacity due to energy constraints, ultimately affecting industry’s potential to grow fast and earn foreign exchange for the country.

He said the SNGPL was already observing two days loadshedding of gas for textile industry. The SNGPL should continue with this schedule, as ensured by the highest office of the country in the presence of former MD SNGPL Abdul Rasheed Lone.

He said the textile industry operates round the clock worldwide and it is not closed even on events like Eid.

However, he said, the industry would close operations from Aug 31 to Sept 3 due to Eid. But any further closure beyond this period would be unacceptable, he stressed.