Due to high price of cotton and yarn in the local market, exporters may fail in fulfilling the European and American apparel export orders worth $ 1.0 billion for Christmas and New Year, said Chairman of the Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Dr Shahzad Arshad.

He said the government should levy a regulatory duty on the export of cotton and yarn without any further delay otherwise the export-based apparel industry would face an irreparable loss.

The exports of apparel from Pakistan in the last ten years had increased from $1.5 billion to only $3.5 billion, whereas in Bangladesh the exports increased from $1.5 billion to $12.5 billion which showed that Pakistan’s exports were much below as compared to other competitors in the region.

The cost of doing business was constantly going up not giving a sigh of relief to industrialists, adding that the government should take immediate steps otherwise this situation would create massive unemployment in the country, due to large scale closure of apparel units.