Wool Export To India Pushes Carpet Industry To Wall.

LAHORE: Carpet industry and business leaders have urged the government to help stop wool export to India Wednesday.

The massive export is not only creating an acute shortage in the local market but also pushing the carpet industry to the wall because the prices of wool have doubled in a short span of time, exporters said. President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shahzad Ali Malik said carpet industry in Pakistan was already fighting for its survival and confronted with the issues like wool shortage and high prices phenomenon. “With 100 percent increase in the prices of raw material, how the carpet industry can compete in the international market,” he added.

The former LCCI president Shahid Hassan Sheikh said as a policy decision, the government should announce some incentives to encourage sheep farming in the country as only due to high prices of wool in the country carpet exports have registered a considerable plunge from $300 million a year ago to $100 million.

The representatives of carpet manufacturers/ exporters during meeting with LCCI president requested to invite the attention of the government/TDAP to take serious note of the situation and control the prices of the wool to avert this disastrous situation.

It was suggested that a serious action should be taken against all found in hoarding/overcharging or exploiting the situation which otherwise should not only deprive the country of big foreign exchange earnings but also add to the miseries of the labour force engaged in this business. It was proposed to encourage sheep farming to ensure better production of wool. A committee should be constituted to probe in the matter and enforce immediate measures to stop this escalating trend, which was never witnessed before and is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. A policy should be formulated for the revival of all sick industries in the country. staff report

Source : dailytimes.com.pk