Textile realities
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
This refers to the news report, ‘Textiles, our Achilles heel’ (May 24). It is indeed shocking that, despite enjoying so many advantages, our textile sector has deteriorated so much that even Bangladesh and Vietnam (countries that do not produce cotton) have raced ahead of us and now have double the share of textile trade compared to Pakistan.
According to the news report, “Land cost/leasing price in $/sq metre is $60-100 in India, $80 in Bangladesh, $90 in Vietnam and $15-30 in Pakistan. Raw water cost (US cents per m3) is over 25 cents in India, 35 cents in Vietnam and Bangladesh, while it is only 15 cents in Pakistan. Steam cost in Pakistan is at least 20 percent less than in all these competing economies”. Yet our textile barons want the government to continue providing them with the power subsidy. One hopes this government will end the subsidy and save precious revenue.
Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=90680
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