Pakistan’s seventy percent powerlooms have so far been shut down due to expensive electricity and unaffordable prices of yarn, according to All Pakistan Powerlooms Association (APPLA) and threatened that if the government does not announce a bailout package for powerloom industry, as one announced for textile industry they will be forced to shut down their business and sell out machinery in scrap.

APPLA has demanded separate power tariff for powerloom industry, which should not be more than Rs6/unit, Locally manufactured machinery and local labour be adjusted under CPEC project to reduce the unemployment and New Textile policy be introduced with the consent of all stakeholders of cotton.

They stressed the need for exploring new markets to sell Pakistan textile products because old buyers have gone to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Taiwan due to energy crisis as they failed to meet their demands on time. They alleged that policies of present regime have put the last nail in the powerlooms coffin.

The spinning sector had destroyed the value added industry of Pakistan by exporting maximum cotton yarn to the competitors. They also stressed the need for taking measure to reduce the cost of production to make the trade viable and crackdown on the smugglers of foreign clothes.