The year 2011 had started with great expectations and hopes for Pakistan’s textile industry.  Exports had shown remarkable overall growth of 35%. The growth was particularly evident in the value added sectors of home textiles, towels and  garments, both knitted and woven. Cotton crisis of the previous year was largely over and the international demand for textiles continued to grow as global recession abated spurring consumer spending.  (A thorough statistical section is published in this issue for the interest of our readers).  However the later part of 2011 showed some decline in exports.  Provisional statistics for the period July to November indicate that knitwear, bedware, cotton yarn, towels, synthetic textiles and made ups showed a decline in exports of 5.68, while woven garments and cotton fabrics, tents and canvas showed an increase of 6.5%.  The overall decline in exports in this period is a nominal 1.9% despite a buoyant outlook at the beginning of the year.

This decline is due to a number of reasons, primarily an acute shortage of energy for the industry and the resulting cost of production. The industry had gradually adapted to the shortfall of electricity in the country by installation of power plants running on natural gas.  Almost 80% of the textile industry in Punjab alone shifted to natural gas to meet the energy shortfall. This added capacity helped meet the demand for power for the industry quite effectively for a number of years.  However, in the last couple of years the supply of natural gas to the industry has been severely curtailed due to the increased demand by the domestic consumers and the transportation sector. Furthermore the fertiliser industry has been subsidized at the cost of other industries particularly the textile sector.

The textile industry is now facing a challenge to meet its global commitments in spite of severe curtailment of natural gas and power load shedding in the country. The gas is now curtailed for a number of days every week. Projected demand/supply position of natural gas in 2011-12 supply is 4,172 mmcfd against demand of 5,777 mmcfd, showing a shortfall of 1,605 mmcfd. In 2012-13, supply will be around 4,372 mmcfd whereas demand will be 5,995 mmcfd indicating a shortfall of 1,622 mmcfd.

It is high time that alternative sources of energy such as coal, solar and wind power should be should be considered without any loss of time. Pakistan is sitting on one of the richest deposits of coal in the world. According to renowned scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand, Thar coal reserves have potential to generate 5000 MW electricity for 800 years.  Incredibly, Thar has 850 trillion cubic feet coal which far greater than the total oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran put together! Coal gasification is already being used successfully by some forward looking players in the textile industry. Through such ingenious and creative solutions, dependency on the gas and power companies can be curtailed significantly for the industry to meet its full potential.  In the coming issues PTJ will highlight for our readers such unique and highly practical solutions to meet growing energy requirements of the industry.