Gas crisis: Textile exporters mull shifting businesses abroad

KARACHI: The textile exporters have constituted a committee tasked to identify countries with business and export-friendly policies so that they can shift their industries abroad due to gas crises, a statement quoted an industrialist, as saying, on Saturday.

Jawed Bilwani, central chairman of the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA), said that the continuous gas crisis in Karachi has forced textile exporters to shift their businesses abroad.

The government’s policies have deprived the exporters of a level-playing field and a viable business environment, he said, adding that the decision has been taken in a meeting of leading and prominent textile exporters held at PHMA House, Karachi.

Since June 11, 2021, industrial production has almost come to a halt due to zero gas pressure, Bilwani said, adding that during 2020/21, the industries faced zero or low gas pressure for 99 days of the 320 working days.