Textile exports paint a sorry picture

24 Apr '08

2 min read

Statistical reports show that in the first nine months of the current financial year, exports of textile products dropped by 3.14 percent compared to the previous year ensuring to continue the phase of declining trend.

In the period July- March of 2007-08, the total textile exports stood at US $7.765 billion compared to $8.017 billion in the same period of the precedent year. Most of the categories in textile exports especially, in the value added sector, gave a miserable performance marking a negative growth for the industry.

While February recorded a decline of 5.74 percent to touch $923.730 million from the corresponding $979.925 million of the previous year, January 2008 saw a growth of 16.9 percent with textile exports worth $792.067 million.

Bedwear, knitwear, tents, canvas and tarpaulin reflected a negative growth of 5.24, 7.97 and 3.11 percent respectively, during July-March of the current fiscal year. On the other hand, export of cotton yarn, cotton cloth, cotton carded and other yarns plummeted by 8.27, 11.01, 23.75 and 20.46 percent respectively.

In the same period, exports of towel dipped by 3.89 percent while other textile materials went down by 3.80 percent.

A handful of sectors which did bring a bit of relief to the industry was the export of raw cotton which surged by 18.15 percent, readymade garments up by 7.30 percent, art silk and synthetic textile which soared by as much as 41 percent and made-up articles.

Experts lament that inspite of billions of rupees of cash incentives and subsidies, Pakistan has failed to survive the stiff competition put up by its regional rivals. Reasons can be attributed to uncompetitive-ness of domestic textile products in the international market and high cost of production that is gutting away the profits of the manufacturers and exporters.

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