In order to explore cotton imports, an All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) delegation led by Dr Gohar Ejaz, its Patron-In-Chief and senior members Fawad Mukhtar and Anwaar Ghani left for Tanzania.
“As we are facing shortage of cotton in the domestic market due to multiple factors including devastating floods, we need to get cotton from across the world with a view to meeting export orders. Surplus cotton is available in a host of countries.
In Africa, Tanzania is one of the leading producers of good quality lint, so we are not only interested in imports but also want to learn from their experience of producing quality fiber,” said Abdul Rahim Nasir, Chairman APTMA.
Pakistan has been hit by the worst flood in its history, affecting 33 million people and inflicting an estimated loss of more than $10 billion in infrastructural damages. Floods have destroyed the cotton crop on a fairly large area. The current estimates of cotton losses are 3.5 million bales which are 36 percent of the crop that was expected this year, valuing at $1.5 billion.
Pakistan has to arrange this cotton at the lowest cost possible on an emergency basis for the sector to continue meeting the export orders. Any delay or non-delivery of export orders would further worsen the balance of payments, which was already under extreme pressure. At the same time, the industry would lose hard-earned international clients, according to the textile body.
