Businessmen argue federal authorities’ action based on contested ownership claims
KARACHI:
Businessmen have expressed grave concern over the ongoing closure and sealing of the historic Karachi Cotton Exchange building, located on II Chundrigar Road, and its increasingly detrimental effects on cotton trade and the broader cotton economy of Pakistan.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, Businessmen Group (BMG) Chairman Zubair Motiwala and Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) President Muhammad Rehan Hanif said that the continued sealing of the building by federal authorities, following a joint raid by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) over contested ownership claims, had disrupted the core functioning of the formal cotton market.
For the first time in 52 years, they mentioned, the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) had been unable to issue daily cotton spot rates, the foundational benchmark for pricing in Pakistan’s cotton market. The absence of the daily spot rate had already generated significant uncertainty among banks, insurers, ginners, textile mills, brokers, exporters and importers, stalling transactions and undermining confidence in the cotton value chain at a critical time, they argued.
The BMG chairman and KCCI president stated that the closure of KCA building and interruption of its price discovery mechanism was not merely a localised operational issue, but it also had systemic implications for Pakistan’s entire cotton economy, which supports thousands of farmers, traders, ginners, textile enterprises and associated sectors. While underscoring the need to protect the integrity of the market and the welfare of Pakistan’s cotton-textile chain, they called on the federal and provincial authorities to urgently engage with all stakeholders to restore business activities at the exchange.
