Textile millers term gas tariff hike \'disastrous\'

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Southern Zone Chairman Naveed Ahmed has described the Economic Coordination Committee's (ECC) recent decision to increase gas tariff for captive power plants (CPPs) from Rs3,000 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to Rs3,500 per mmBtu as anti-export, which will be disastrous for the textile industry having 60% share in exports of the country. He demanded that the federal government reverse its decision of the unprecedented increase in gas tariff to make textile exports competitive in the international market, which had been continuously eroded by the surge in energy prices over the last two years. He said the government increased gas tariff for CPPs only while tariffs for all other sectors including fertiliser and processing firms as well as domestic consumers had been left unchanged. "This targeted discrimination is not acceptable."