Report — 5 February 2019

‘Factories selling for a pittance’: crisis forces exits; 300k looms historically, only ~250k running

Summary

Field reporting from Faisalabad documented owners selling plants below book value amid sustained energy costs and shrinking margins. The story cited a historic base of 300,000+ power looms, with around 250,000 operating by early 2019, and portrayed the sector as in prolonged distress.

Ground reality

To stay liquid, owners were offloading machinery piecemeal; some facilities displayed banners underscoring despair over scrap-value economics. With working capital trapped in receivables and volatile input prices, even short periods of downtime tipped firms into losses.

Implications for APPLA

• Build a distress-assets registry (member-to-member resale, transparent pricing) to preserve capacity within clusters.
• Advocate bill-deferral/instalment schemes during tariff spikes to avoid fire-sale dynamics.