960416

Fabric exports to

Far East slow

due to yarn

contamination

MUZAFFAR QURESHI

KARACHI: Export of fabrics to the Far East countries has slowed down due to the problem of contaminated yarn which brought heavy penalties to the exporters from the foreign buyers.

Of the past monthly average shipment of 86 containers of fabrics to Korea, the shipment rate is now down to 50 containers per month.

The export slowed down as the fabrics exporters started strict checking of yarn delivered at their factories to ensure use of clean and un-contaminated yarn.

"We have started rejecting yarn lots delivered at the factories on the slightest iota of suspicion of contamination", said Mohammad Iqbal Mangrani, a leading exporter of fabrics to Korea.

"It is better to slow down shipments than to receive heavy claims from the buyers", he said, adding that his firm alone had paid $50,000 in claims made by the buyers.

The contamination in yarn is detected at the buyers end when the cloth imported from Pakistan is processed for dying. Contamination leaves unwanted spots on the fabric after bleaching.

Mangrani said that contamination in yarn occurred due to careless handling of cotton right from the picking stage to the ginning process. Pakistani exporters have suffered heavy losses due to the inefficiency and malpractices, he added.

He appealed to the All Pakistan Textile Mill Association and Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association to take special care in the processing of cotton to prevent contamination.

Complaints of contamination have been received from Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan and many buyers have threatened to stop buying cloth from Pakistan.