Economic activities have slowed down owing to the new wave of COVID-19 world over therefore Pakistan’s textile industry is being directly affected which has brought down the rates of cotton in Pakistan from Rs 300 per maund to 400 per maund.
Due to the increasing cases of Covid-19 in India and Bangladesh and decreasing cases of the same in Pakistan, there was a historical jump in the textile sector of Pakistan during the last few months. The demand for cotton increased than its supply and therefore the textile sector was bound to import cotton.
The textile sector received big orders from Europe and America as these 2 countries were reluctant in importing the textile products from India and Bangladesh due to the bad Coronavirus conditions in these two countries.
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But now things are different again as due to the worsening situation of Covid-19 in Europe and the USA, there is a fear of lockdown. As such economic activities have slowed down therefore Pakistan’s textile industry is being directly affected. Due to the constant fall in the dollar, the economic activities of the textile sector have been squeezed.
Ahsan Haq, the Chairman, Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association said that due to the probable Covid-19 lockdown in the UK and other European countries, the exports of textile products may decrease and as a result, the rates of cotton and cotton yarn may also come down. The farmers of cotton are afraid of the situation.
Due to unexpected more rain and the attack of locust in the country, there was a big shortage in the production of cotton. It was hoped that due to the increase in the export of textile products, the rate of the cotton flower may rise and farmers’ income per mound would be better.
Ahsan ul Haq told that the government has reduced the import duty of cotton thread which may also cause the reduction of prices of cotton.
He added that due to the record decrease in the production of cotton in Pakistan, this is for the first time in the history of the country that the textile industry along with the related industry could not be restored fully so far.
He said that after the recent subsidy of Rs.1000/bag on the fertilizer, the agriculture sector of the country may flourish. Like the import industries, the subsidized rates of electricity for the tube wells of the agriculture sector may also be given for the whole year so that this sector may progress.
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