The textile industry is in tatters approximately 8,500 containers holding key raw materials for the textile industry and others remain stuck at Karachi seaport.
Media reports indicate that 95 percent of the containers are being held due to the non-opening of letters of credit/ import restrictions since July 2022. Floods reduced the cotton crop to less than 5 million bales while the textile industry needs 15 million bales that have to be imported. Import restrictions have blocked the clearance of cotton and other textile inputs like dyes, chemicals, and other fibers.
Industry representative body the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) reveals that textile exports declined by roughly 12 percent year on year to $1.36 billion in January. Over the first seven months of the current fiscal year, equivalent exports saw an 8% year-on-year drop to $10.08 billion, the Ukrainian conflict and its ripple effect.
Minister of maritime affairs Faisal Subzwari announced late last month that the government would waive 100 percent of port authority charges to help ease the logjam. The State Bank of Pakistan said that containers would begin to clear if importers could agree to self-fund payment on a 180-day deferred basis.
