President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) Mian Zahid Hussain has said Pakistan is losing yarn market to Vietnam. "Pakistan has already lost a big share in international clothing market to rivals such as Bangladesh and now cheaper yarn form Vietnam has emerged as another threat to the spinning industry," he said, adding that Vietnam's yarn industry had grown threefold in the last four years while its yarn exports were growing by 40 percent per annum.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Pakistan's textile sector was the largest urban employment provider and largest foreign exchange earner but that has come under threat due to dominant position of Vietnam in yarn sector. "Industrialists in many countries are relocating their units to Vietnam while China continues to invest heavily in the textile sector of that country which is expanding their capacity at a fast pace," he said, comparing that Pakistani textile exports continued to fall since 2009-10 gaining momentum in the last three years.

He said that 70% heavy textile industry was located in Punjab of which 30% had been closed while remaining was struggling for energy. PBIF president urged the government to honour promises with the textile sector and reduce the energy prices to bring cost of production down. He demanded refunds should be paid to lure international buyers who have decided to do business with Bangladesh, India, China and other rivals. He said that the GSP plus status helped Pakistan to remain in the international market otherwise rival nations would have totally wiped out Pakistani products.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017