Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) Central Punjab, Vice Chairman Waheed Khaliq Raamay said almost 50 to 75 processing mills closed and almost 10 printing mills are closed in faisalabad region.
Similarly fifty thousand looms mills closed due to high price of electricity. Talking to media on Wednesday, he said mostly factories received bills at Rs 55 per unit which is unbearable. Almost 300 to 350 embroidery machines were closed till date.
Waheed further said Pakistan’s electricity and gas tariffs for the Textile industry remain the highest in the region—rendering firms uncompetitive—despite the RCET tariffs being in play. The general industrial tariff remains at 0.15USD/KWh, twice that in Vietnam and 1.5 times higher than Bangladesh and India.
Likewise, Pakistan’s textile industry faces the highest gas/LNG tariff in the region. Pakistan’s textile industry is paying 9 USD/MMBtu, which is 3.5 times more than Uzbekistan, and 1.5 times Bangladesh’s industrial tariff.
Pakistan’s textile industry must price its power inputs at a tariff lower than the regional average tariff of 0.072USD/KWh, to stay regionally competitive. The current RCET for electricity (from the national grid) is higher than the regional average.—INP
