Textile exports register 20 percent growth in March
HAMID WALEED
LAHORE (May 02 2010): Textile industry registered 20 percent growth in exports in March 2010 comparing with March 2009, giving a picture entirely different from what the apparel sector is trying to paint simply to deceive the Minister for Textile Industry, adamant to curtail exports of yarn.
The textile exports are witnessing exponential growth, in value terms, with 38 percent increase in exports of raw cotton, 18 percent in cotton yarn, 9 percent in cotton cloth, 306 percent in yarn other than cotton yarn, 20 percent in knitwear, 7 percent in bedwear, 26 percent in towels, 31 percent in tents, canvas and tarpaulin, 16 percent readymade garments, 103 percent in art silk & synthetic textile, 35 percent in made-up articles, and 75 percent in other textile materials.
In quantity terms, raw cotton export increased by 25 percent in March 2010 against March 2009, followed by 10 percent decline in cotton yarn, 6 percent increase in cotton cloth, 91 percent decline in cotton carded or combed, 315 percent increase in yarn other than cotton yarn, 11 percent increase in knitwear, 15 percent increase in bed wear, 88 percent increase in towels, 48 percent in tents, canvas & tarpaulin, 6 percent decline in readymade garments and 85 percent increase art silk and synthetic textile.
Interestingly, the value-added sector is crying for imposition of ban on exports of cotton yarn in a situation where its exports are showing upward trend. Therefore, the market sources are of the view that the value-added exporters are not worried about the exports of cotton yarn but increase in price of it. Eventually, they have started pressurising the Ministry of Textile to restrict its exports.
Any such move, it is generally believed, would result in a glut of cotton yarn within the country that would ultimately lead to reduction in yarn prices, a raw material to the production units of value-added sector. The Ministry of Textile has already succumbed to value-added sector pressure and it restricted exports of yarn to 50,000 tons a month in January 2010, followed by a further reduction in it to 35,000 tons a month.
The spinners rushed to the judiciary where they got immediate relief. But this is not enough for opening up the eyes of value-added sector and even the Ministry of Textile. Both of them are in the process of cornering the spinning industry again by imposing regulatory duty on exports of yarn from the country.
The spinners, on the other hand, neither the value-added exporters nor the Ministry of Textile Industry showed concern when the exports of yarn were abysmal low and prices were highly doldrums. Today, when the yarn prices have jumped upward in the wake of increase in cotton prices, the value-added exporters have started pursuing the government aggressively.
Particularly, the textile labour in Faisalabad has proved a true mover and shaker of the situation. Its aggressive mood perturbed the government badly and the Ministry of Textile not only ensured load shedding for minimum period but also imposed ban on exports of yarn, a distortion to the free market mechanism.
This situation annoyed the spinners and they observed a successful countrywide strike, but all in vein, as all cries of the spinning industry fell on deaf ears of the Ministry of Textile Industry. The Ministry is adamant again to distort the free market mechanism.
Gohar Ejaz, Chairman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab, when contacted, said precisely: "Let bygones by bygones. We strongly believe that Rana Farooq Saeed Khan is minister of whole textile chain and not the value-added sector alone; therefore, sanity would definitely prevail." According to him, the spinners are ready to cooperate with the Ministry, provided it is there to ensure 'judicious balance' in the state of affairs. He said the Aptma had nothing personal against the Ministry and, instead, it is flagship of the Ministry of Textile Industry.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2010
FMI trying to introduce cheap agriculture equipment, seeds
ABDUL RASHEED AZAD
ISLAMABAD (May 02 2010): The Farm Machinery Institute (FMI), in collaboration with National Oilseed Development Project (NODP) and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (Parc), is making all possible efforts to introduce cheap and modern agriculture equipment's and seeds for the growers.
The organisations have taken a number of steps, including reduction in the post-harvest losses in maize, particularly, due to manual shelling by the equipment. Previously, the farmers used to shell maize ears by manual beating, which resulted in losses. To overcome this, large shellers, operated by tractors were imported and used by some farmers on rental basis. The rent of shellers was very high and its availability to the farmers remained low, officials of FMI said.
Similarly, the FMI developed a tractor PTO driven 'pneumatic row crop planter', which handles seed very gently, using air suction through holes of a rotating disc. It is capable of planting a wide range of seeds like maize, sunflower and tomato with uniform spacing.
It is locally available in four and six rows, depending on the size of the tractor. The 'pneumatic row crop planter' is cost-effective as it is convenient for weed eradiation. The officials said that quality seed is essential and can increase production by 10 to 20 percent, which is viable, free from weeds seed and diseases. Currently, 16 percent of wheat seed, 18 percent of paddy seed, 8 percent of pulses seed and 11 percent of vegetables certified seeds are available in the country.
One of the constraints in providing healthy seed to growers is non-availability of small-scale seed processing technology. To meet the acceptable standards, the undesirable materials must be removed from the crop seed, which is possible by providing a small-scale seed-processing unit to the seed growers and seed companies.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2010
Export of tractors, agri equipments
‘
Pakistan can earn $700m foreign exchange’
By Ijaz Kakakhel
ISLAMABAD: The government can earn $700 million foreign exchange through export of tractors and other allied equipment by increasing their production capacity.
This was revealed in the draft report on National Engineering Exports Development Strategy (NEEDS), prepared by engineering industry experts. At present the informal Pakistani tractor exports are continued to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, UAE and African countries but potential market for tractors are Afghanistan, South Asia, Middle East and Africa. To exploit the formal market, the NEEDS suggested to the tractor manufacturers need to increase their production capacity as well as of their vendors to create an exportable surplus. The manufacturers also need to resolve territorial licensing issue. If these two challenges are met by the industry, the tractors’ export potential can go up to $500 million.
The engineering industry stakeholders’ strategy also claimed that the government could earn at least $200 million from export of agricultural implements. Pakistan manufactured a number of agricultural equipments like wheat threshers, laser scraper, sunflower thresher, reaper, straw chopper, disc harrow, seed drills, potato digger, potato planter, disc plough, chisel plough, border disc, bed planter, Ridgers, tillers, blades, seed graders, cartage trolleys, comb ploughs, cultivators, land levelers, lawn movers and maize sheller.
Exports of these agriculture equipments already continued to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, UAE, and African countries. But more potential export markets are South Asia, Middle East, African countries, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics. To exploit the new potential export market, the industry needs to restructure itself through merger and grow into an economic size. The strategy suggested that the existing model of exports, through third parties trading export businesses, needs to be formalised and supported. The new markets also required adoption of design drawings and standards are a must for boosting agriculture equipments exports.
The strategy identified some weaknesses in tractor exports and recommended to take appropriate measures for its removal. These weaknesses are; manufacturing capability not enough to produce export surplus, the franchise or technical assistance agreements limit exporting rights and product development not undertaken to produce higher end tractors needed for sophisticated markets.
Despite such weaknesses, the stakeholders claimed that the agriculture tractors industry is mature and is well entrenched in the domestic market and almost totally occupies the space. Basic kill set is available, large pool of low cost human resources and a large vendor base is available to support manufacturing and supply to after sale market.
According to the stakeholders, the agriculture tractor manufacturing industry in Pakistan is quite old. Rana Tractors (now Millat Tractors) started assembly of Messy Ferguson Tractors in Lahore in the 1960s and were followed by Alghazi Tractors (Fiat), Allied Tractors (Ford), Fecto (Belarus) and some others. Currently, Pakistani market is dominated by Millat Tractors and Alghazi Tractors producing tractors from 50 to 85 HP and controlling 98 percent of the domestic market share. The local industry produces 54,000 tractors per year. The industry has a very strong backward linkage and depends on its vendor base in a big way. In some models of tractors local content is above 80 percent, which gives a lot of strength and price competitiveness to tractor manufacturers. Despite interests shown by foreign countries no exports could be made, as there is no exportable surplus.
On the other hand, the industrial segment manufacturing farm machinery and equipment is large, fragmented and totally unorganised. It consists of hundreds of micro and small-scale manufacturers throughout the country operating out of their backyards and small workshops. The manufacturers are clustered in and around Daska, Faisalablad, Okara and Mian Channu, the places, which have emerged as centres for manufacture. However, the production assets and technology available is obsolete and inefficient. The manpower is untrained with low skill level. No standards are followed in respect of input materials. The NEEDS in this regard suggested the government that appropriate measures would be taken to improve the current state of affairs through capitalising on existing strengths and by overcoming the weaknesses. If proper guidelines regarding agricultural equipments production according to the international standards were carried out, then Pakistan would be able to get $200 million foreign exchange earning through its exports.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\02\story_2-5-2010_pg5_11
