Pakistan, the 4th largest exhibitor at the Heimtextil Fair Germany, a mega event for all textile millers and exporters of the world, where this year Pakistan (TDAP) umbrella at the Pakistan pavilion received almost half the number of order this year compared to the previous year.

Pakistani exporters have seen a massive drop in international orders lately, due to the energy crisis and the slowdown of global economy, said an exhibitor at the Heimtextile Fair and Ayesha Textile Mills CEO Abdulla Kamal, while talking to the media.

One of the main reasons behind receiving fewer orders has been the exporters’ inability to dispatch consignments in time due to energy shortages.

Pakistan despite the advantages of having cheap labour and producing better cotton, the exporters’ expectations could not be met due to the energy and worsening law and order situation.”

Delay in shipment by the Pakistani is making the international buyers to move away from Pakistani market. On the other hand, China is very good in timely delivery.

This year China has got the edge over all other participants; the first to take full advantage of the exhibition.

The global economic slowdown has also played a key role in keeping buyers away from the recent exhibition. Europe is passing through a low-growth phase, remarked Kamal. During the peak textile season, the government severs the gas supply. This time, though, the situation was better since the government cut supply to domestic consumers in order to facilitate the industries.

Moreover, the law and order situation in the country was another major hurdle in grabbing orders. Also the recent terrorist attacks on schools and colleges have dented Pakistan’s reputation internationally. Buyers are frightened to even visit them, let alone give orders.

Even the old ones are not visiting Pakistan due to which they have to fix meetings abroad, in fact this time India and Bangladesh got a far better response compared to Pakistan.

Another hurdle, identified by Kamal, was the shortage of gas, the textile mills need steam for processing the fabric, He was of the view that the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was not an alternative.

This winter is the first season when they are running their mills on LNG, which is very expensive. It is 25% more expensive than natural gas (CNG). That, of course, increases the cost of production.

The Pakistan textile sector can again reach its potential capacity of $25 billion exports, compared to the current figure of $13.9 billion as it has very good production capacity and machineries, only internal issue need to be resolved by the government. The government has been urged to take up the issues of energy and gas seriously.