Industrial experts strongly believe that undue pressures on the textile sector and subsequent decline was again largely due to insufficient foreign orders. The situation entered its worst phase in December 2007 when exports of key products dipped by over 20 percent.
Nonetheless, in January 2008, knitwear and readymade garments recorded a surge of 10.8 and 39 percent respectively as buyers placed huge orders for knitted shirts and denim clothing whose rates were comparatively higher in India.
A major drawback of the textile industry of Pakistan was that it failed to take advantage of post 2005 quota free regime. Even market analysts were of the opinion that if China and India could manage to compete with low labor cost countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, there was no reason why Pakistan could not have taken up the same challenges. The only viable solution to alleviate existing problems is to provide adequate infrastructure facilities to attract new investments.