My concern for writing this entry is basically about the falling status of our value-added textile goods. You see as a designer our concern is with value addition. From choosing the color of the yarn to the final packaging everything depends on how the designer wants it done.Thefore any further developments taking place after the formation of yarn is called value-addition. This includes research, innovations and development in technical textiles, yarn quality, clothing products, process performance, fabric finishing, coloration technology, cuts, stitching, packaging and marketing.
When we study the economy of the least developed and small developing countries what we see is that they have built a huge dependency on the textile sector which often accounts for more than 90% of industrial exports and more than 50% of total employment. Due to increased global competition, many sectors within the textile industry are increasing production efficiency by Value-addition which can bring significant advancements in the textile sector and market supremacy In Pakistan the export of raw materials has been a great contributor to the economy and responsible for a generating a huge amount of revenue. However, Pakistan is fast becoming the major exporter of “semi-finished” goods but what we need to understand is that the export of value-added goods plays a key factor in improving the economy of the country. In every area of the economy value-addition is always advantageous to the exporter as well as the government. The reason for it can be understood in this way that when an exporter exports a raw good to any buyer , the buyer, after the further value-addition will sell the product using the right strategy and marketing and hence get much more out of it . In this case the raw material costs much cheaper to the buyer and gives more gains, even though what must be remembered here is that the strength of the finished product lies in the raw materials involved in its making. This is something our exporters don’t realize presently and should follow the example of mills like Afroze and Gul-Ahmed which started off as horizontal units i.e. only spinning or weaving, but however moved forward with time to develop in to well established vertical units catering to importers looking for value-added goods. Apart from this another important factor the exporters and the Government should keep in mind is that with the huge amount of competition existing in the Post-quota environment, the buyers of Raw goods who are obviously only concerned with their own interest, will vest their investments in who ever is providing the least cost and better quality as well as other things. Where a cash crop is concerned it is something given to us by nature. If our future hangs in the life of that particular crop then we are probably putting too much at stake. The point I am trying to make here is that with increased global warming, a very serious issue in the whole world right now, the weather conditions are getting unpredictable and natural disasters can strike anywhere at any time, like hurricanes and storms. My thought here might seem to far-fetched to many but what we need o remember here is that our Government is presently taking steps for long term planning in textiles. But what if , say in 15 years the weather conditions are completely unsuitable for the crops then where do you think our future lies? The whole concept of Value-addition represents to me an idea of being more and more independent in terms of our needs. If we face a crop deficit in the future years our foreign buyers will turn their backs on us in no time. Then where do we think our economy will go? What will rescue us from this mishap? This of course would be value-addition which by that time should be strong enough so that we can rely on our own manufactured goods and brands, or even be at a position to be a buyer of raw goods ourselves.
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