Pak Textile Council Urges Indian Cotton Import Amid of Payments Crisis.
A lack of raw materials is affecting the nation’s textile industry, which generated more than $19 billion in export revenue last year. Since June, flash floods have ruined roughly half of the country harvest.
The council declared that Pakistan had been damaged by the unprecedented rainfall that produced the floods.” In Pakistan, more than 1,500 people died, thousands of homes have fallen, and more importantly, more than 18,000 square kilometers of agricultural land have been damaged. the statement said. which includes about 45% of the cotton crop”.
The government will have to pay far more than $10 billion in damages, the Council warned, with the loss of food crops alone amounting to nearly $2.3 billion. This is a particularly hefty burden at a time when food prices are growing globally.
Pakistan is a big producer of cotton and rice, and the PTC noted that both harvests have been severely harmed. Flood damage would probably force Pakistan to raise cotton imports as part of the catastrophe, at a time when production in the US is expected to decline by 28 percent due to drought.
Pakistan won’t be able to purchase raw materials from China due to the restrictions, according to the Council.
Brazil’s prospects are similarly not very promising. ABRAPA (Agricultural Association of Brazil) reports that the country’s supply of cotton has already been reduced by an estimated 200,000 tones due to the drought.
The cost of cotton is rising in both domestic and international markets as a result of all these factors.
The PTC said that importing cotton from far-off nations like the US, Brazil, Egypt, etc. would not be economically viable given the ongoing depreciation of the rupee and record-high shipping costs.
Pakistan’s textile exports reached a record high of $19.3 billion in 2021–2022; nevertheless, even reaching this figure would be difficult given the lack of access to raw materials for manufacturing.
According to the Council, Pakistan must maintain its export development momentum to finance its import bill, maintain a manageable balance of payments, and prevent default situations.
It said that the “import of raw cotton from India must be immediately permitted to relieve the shortfall of raw materials.” By making the change, Pakistan will shorten trade delays and cut back on expensive logistics.
“The government cannot afford the decreased textile exports’ impact on the balance of payments, which will also threaten millions of jobs owing to declining productivity.
“Declining textile exports will produce a balance of payments problem, and lowering productivity will imperil millions of jobs that the nation cannot afford,” the Council warned.
