Fozia Azam

Amid the energy crisis and increasing input costs, the Sialkot’s sports goods industry has converted 40 percent of its production to solar power to stay competitive in the international market, said Mohsin Masood, secretary general of Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers Association (PSGMA). Talking to WealthPK, he said that Pakistan’s sports goods industry is taking initiatives on its own to convert to solar power as the government has not come up with any plan to facilitate this key export-oriented sector.

He added that it is also the requirement of international brands to switch their production process over to solar power within the next few years. “The initiative of the sports goods industry to convert to the environment-friendly energy is also attracting foreign investments.” “Due to the persistent energy crisis, the sports goods industry has suffered a lot, and it has no choice but to opt for solar power to keep the business smooth and meet international orders timely,” he said.

Mohsin Masood is of the view that Pakistan’s sports goods industry, one of the major export-oriented industries, needs consistent, reliable and cheap electricity to keep the production process going. The export of sports goods witnessed an increase of 17.78% during the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2022-23 as compared to the corresponding months of last year.

Pakistan heavily relies on fossil fuels like furnace oil, coal and gas to generate electricity, but the high costs incurred on producing such power is causing Pakistan dearly financially amid growing industrial and household consumption needs. According to Mustafa Abdullah, who helps develop solar and wind energy projects, amid the current energy crisis and prevailing depressed economic conditions solar power is the cheapest source of energy for the industry. Converting sports goods manufacturing units to solar energy can help boost exports. He said that it is time for Pakistan to shift to alternate modes of power generation to save precious foreign exchange and boost export-oriented sectors’ performance. Pakistan has huge potential to generate solar and wind power. As per statistics, Pakistan can utilise just 0.071% of its land mass to generate enough solar power to meet its electricity demand.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk