Textile mills in Pakistan are likely to reduce their cotton use this year. Spindles are being used at 25 per cent of their capacity. This is because the sector is being hurt by the high cost of doing business. Normally the textiles sector uses 400,000 bales of cotton a month but this is likely to see a substantial drop. 

One the threats the industry faces increase in power tariff is a major one. This is affecting exports of yarn and fabrics. The capacity to convert cotton into exportable goods through basic textiles is reducing fast. Producing a surplus for exports has become difficult. 

Pakistan faced a 30 per cent decline in fabric exports in September 2015. Textile mills fear if they reduce cotton consumption, cotton farmers and textile workers would suffer and foreign exchange earnings through merchandise exports would drop. The textile industry has been designed to consume 14 million bales of cotton and produce an exportable surplus but the industry finds itself unable to do this. Structural imbalances are affecting mill operations. 

Mill owners have called for a regulatory duty on the import of manmade fiber yarns, which they say will give an impetus to the industry and make its operations viable.