The goods transporters strike have put millions of dollars’ export orders at stake, as cargo supplies remained suspended for the eighth consecutive day on Monday.
Expressing concern over the continued strike, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) Vice-Chairman Shafique Butt observed that the strike has been hitting the exports hard, as their supplies were being interrupted by the transporters’ protesting groups at the entry point of Karachi, urging the government to resolve the issue through result-oriented dialogues to the end the strike.
He said that due to the strike, industrialists were facing immense difficulties in transporting goods to their business destinations whereas the national economy was also taking a hit as the strike has now also hit Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and other parts of the country.
He said that the major export commodity was falling down fast while supplies of imported raw material were also not reaching the manufacturing units for the last almost one week. Blaming both the government and opposition for the deteriorating state of economy, he said that the government and the opposition were indifferent towards the country’s export crisis.
He said that goods transporters strike was causing great trouble to the importers, exporters and local industry, halting trade and industrial activities across the country.
Shafique Butt said the country’s major textile exports share came from different parts of Punjab, part of which had now been suspended due to the transporters protest. Resultantly, their LCs will expire and their export orders might be cancelled, he said.
PHMA vice chairman further said that a large number of hosiery exporters were worried because their export cargoes were stopped by the protesting transporters at the entry points of Karachi.
He criticized the government’s delaying strategy that caused a big financial loss to the exporters, saying the exporters were uncertain that whether they would be able to ship their consignments to the world markets as per schedule. He said the country’s exports had already flat and the unresolved issues might further worsen the situation.