PYMA demands restoration of concessionary energy tariff for textile industry

PYMA demands restoration of concessionary energy tariff for textile industry

Sohail Nisar, the Senior Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), has expressed concern over the discontinuation of the gas concession package for the textile sector by the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) following the discontinuation of the electricity concession package.

He has appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to continue these concession packages to save the textile industry, which is crucial to the national economy, from collapsing.

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Nisar noted that the government had already terminated the electricity relief tariff, which had led to many power looms being shut down and not being restarted even after Eid al-Fitr. Now, the discontinuation of the gas concession package will result in a significant increase in the production cost of the textile industry.

As gas is the primary raw material for the textile industry, Nisar urged the government to reduce production costs instead of creating difficulties to enable timely production of export goods and delivery of orders to foreign buyers as promised.

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According to Nisar, the federal government has ended the supply of RLNG at $9/MMBTU to the textile, sports, surgical, leather, and jute sectors while withdrawing a subsidy of Rs. 80 billion on gas for these five sectors, which will result in additional costs of $4/MMBTU on RLNG for export sectors.

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The agreed-upon gas rates will be implemented on all income sectors from May 1st, causing unbearable production costs that may force textile units to shut down, leading to unemployment for millions of workers.

Therefore, Nisar strongly demanded that the government continue to subsidize the electricity and gas package for the textile industry, as industries cannot bear additional costs, and the production costs will become unaffordable, leading to the collapse of the textile sector.

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