Yarn prices up on high PSF, cotton rates: APTMA

LAHORE: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), responding to concern of All Pakistan Cotton Power looms Association over rise in yarn prices, has attributed it to a 35 per cent increase in polyester staple fibre prices and high cotton rates.

In a statement APTMA, on behalf of its yarn manufacturing member, said the principal factor behind the rise in yarn prices was a steep increase in PSF prices in a short span.

APTMA said it had already written to the government that the price escalation had rendered the country’s produce uncompetitive compared to Chinese yarn, whose producers enjoyed a 25 per cent price advantage.

The association pointed out that the largest PSF producer of the country had shut down completely, resulting in acute shortage and soaring PSF prices.

“The market is experiencing a shortage of more than 11,000 tons of PSF every month. This shortage along with the protection provided by imposing anti-dumping duty on PSF imports has enabled local PSF manufacturers to raise prices periodically.”

Another factor, the association said, which weighed heavily on supply of yarn at competitive prices was unplanned gas loadshedding which disrupted supply to majority of the mills running on gas.

APTMA said increase in the price of cotton and other inputs had also contributed to the rise in yarn prices and pointed out that exports of cotton-polyester and polyester yarn was negligible ie less than 5 per cent of total production and was not a cause for their shortage and high prices in the domestic market.