Several knitwear exporters in Pakistan are apprehending to lose business from their key importers in the US. They apprehend that the US consumers would not be much willing to place their orders with them after the recent verbal clash between the US and Pakistani officials.
During fiscal 2010-11, exports worth US$ 1.493 billion, out of the country's total apparel exports worth four billion USD, were towards the US, accounting for nearly 37.3 percent.
Following a surge in cotton prices, clothing exports from Pakistan during last fiscal grew at a whopping year-on-year rate of over 25 percent.
The fall in cotton prices has not severely affected the apparel exports during the initial three months of the current fiscal that started on July 1. However, there has been a drastic fall in order inflow during the same period.
The knitwear exporters say they have sufficient orders to keep them busy till October 2011, but the order inflow has been slow during September. Orders received in September are to be executed in November, December and January.
According to them, the current fiscal may prove to be a poor year for the country's value-added textile industry. The big exporters do have orders to keep them busy till December, but the small manufacturers are the affected lot as the overseas buyers are paying rates in lines with the cotton prices that prevailed in the year 2009.
Since 2009, the production cost has gone up significantly owing to high rate of inflation, and the cotton rates prevailing at present, even after a decline, are far above the ones that prevailed in 2009.
In such a scenario, the rates offered by the US buyers are not even sufficient enough to match the cost of production, the exporters say.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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