Power loom sector reels under imports, rising costs

Dawn reports that many small loom operations in Faisalabad and neighbouring towns have stopped work as cheaper yarn and grey cloth from China flood the market. Industry figures cited by the paper suggest roughly 40 per cent of units in a sector running close to 800,000 looms have shut down. The decline is also blamed on higher utility bills and taxes, which operators say have made survival increasingly difficult.

Union president Aslam Meraj told the paper that more than 100,000 workers have lost jobs and accused the government of failing to shield local manufacturers. Shakil Ansari, head of the Faisalabad Sizing Mills Association, said border and road closures have disrupted cloth sales to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and delayed payments from traders there. Together with high utility bills and taxes, these problems have pushed the sector close to a standstill, he said.

The Council of Loom Owners Association has written to Commerce Minister Jam Kamal seeking tighter import valuation checks based on verifying export declarations. It argues that under-invoicing of fabrics and yarn from China lowers the duties paid and gives imports an unfair edge over domestic producers. The association has proposed that importers attach the matching Chinese export customs declaration to their Pakistani goods declarations for reconciliation.