Pakistani textile finishing industry facing new challenges

The textile sector contributing 67% to the country's exports, 40% to employment and 8.5% to the GDP - has shown substantial development during the last few years. The exact number of factories, having high-speed rotary textile printing and processing units, is not known. However, most of the available units working on Hi- Tec machines are owned by big industrial and commercial cartels such as Adamjees, Gul Ahmeds etc. At present there are more than 700 independent processing units working in and around Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Karachi, in which about 70 integrated units with complete, finishing facilities. These integrated units have complete finishing facilities i.e. bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, calendaring and printing. These textile printing and processing units have been classified into three categories i.e. A, B and C. Category-A integrated units have complete finishing facilities i.e. bleaching mercerizing, dyeing, calendaring and printing. These units from the power loom sector procure cloth and after processing they marked it under own brand names. At times, these units also provide finishing facilities to the traders on charge basis. Category-B units directly compete with the products of integrated units. In terms of quality, design and colour, their products are in no-way inferior to the products of integrated mills. Like the integrated mills these units also sell their products in wholesale market. Category-C units are those, which do not have complete finishing facilities. These are either engaged in bleaching and dyeing. In comparison with Type-A, these units perform more work on job order basis. Besides, they also procure cloth from the market and after processing market in

under their own brand names. Fabric is nothing but a clothing material which is made up of threads or yarn. It is a process of knitting, weaving, crocheting, and knotting. Fabric is used everywhere in daily needs. It is used in curtains, bedding, clothing, apparel, fashion industry, furnishing etc. Fabric is used in textile industries. Synthetic fabric is not a natural material but it is an artificial process. It produces the nylon, polyester, and acrylic. These materials are mainly used in clothing. Fabrics make our life very colourful. The fact that most folks recognize how fabric can change frame of mind is the reason for the popularity of its colours, materials. Production of cloth: The weaving and made-up sectors have three different subsectors in weaving viz. integrated, independent weaving units and power loom sector. Cloth is being produced in both mill and non-mill sectors. Pakistan’s fabric range from coarse to super varieties, with coarse and medium varieties consumed locally. The use of coloured cotton being unique and attractive has the potential to become a part of cotton fabric and apparel market, but there are some limitations to it. The natural coloured cotton is low in yield usually short staple and weaker in strength. There are a large number of vertically integrated units, where production is controlled from fibre to the end product, and marketed abroad directly. Production of cloth (mill sector) increased from 915 million sq. meters in 2005-06 to 1,009 million sq. meters in 2009-10, thus showing an average increase of 2% per annum. Out of total production of cloth during 2009-10 in mill sector, 57% produced in grey form, 30% dyed and printed, and 13% blended and bleached. Production of cloth (mill-sector) is given in Table-1.