KARACHI:President FPCCI, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh has identified ever-decreasing cotton production as a direct threat to the economy.
Cotton is one of the major cash crops of the country and it provides indigenous raw material to textile imdustry, Pakistan’s largest export sector, he said in his statement issued by Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Thursday.
Textile export was expected to cross dollars 20 billion in the outgoing fiscal year. On the other hand, yearly cotton production had been reduced to 6 or 7 million bales.
Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said Pakistan’s textile products could become much more competitive, provided we start producing entire textile raw material domestically or at least resume the previous level of 10 to 12 million bales a year. That, importing 1 million bales causes outflow of $1 billion of precious foreign exchange.
FPCCI Chief explained that 60% cost of producing the textile products lied with the raw material of cotton. Producing more cotton would also strengthen our foreign exchange reserves, improve abysmal trade balance and put a halt to the incessant rupee depreciation.