PESHAWAR: Spinning mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are struggling to continue functioning as their consignments have got stuck at seaports due to restrictions by banks, said Afan Aziz, chairman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association, on Monday.

Mr Aziz also complained about high demurrage and container detention charges and demanded their waiver to support mills.

“Port authorities and container terminal and shipping companies are charging spinning mills huge sums of demurrage and container detention charges. We have written to the finance and maritime affairs ministries seeking their intervention for a waiver of those charges as well as the early issuance of letter of credit by banks for importing essential raw materials,” the KPTMA leader told reporters.

He appreciated the State Bank of Pakistan’s Dec 27, 2022, circular about the relaxation of restrictions on imports by export-oriented sectors and said that the spinning mills qualified for that import relief for being an export-oriented sector.

“Spinning mills convert imports into exports to generate foreign exchange for the country. They brought in record foreign exchange of $19.33 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22,” he said.

Fear closures, massive joblessness

Mr Aziz warned that if the dismal situation continued, mills would close down causing massive unemployment and loss of foreign exchange.

He demanded of the federal government to take corrective measures without delay.

The KPTMA chairman said that raw materials for spinning mills in the province were depleting fast and thus, threatening suspension of operation.

He said that if the mills were closed, then the province would witness massive unemployment to cause public unrest.

Mr Aziz urged authorities to take immediate action to save the province’s spinning mills to prevent their closure and joblessness.

He said that spinning mills in the province had the capacity of 750,000 spindles and had employed over 45,000 people directly and thousands indirectly.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2023