Rise in second-hand clothing import hurts Pak textiles

25 May '12

2 min read

The growing import of second-hand clothing items is negatively affecting the Pakistan textile industry, Mr. Ahsan Bashir, Chairman of Punjab unit of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has said.

He urged the Government to take notice of another issue, besides rise in imports of second-hand garments, which is hurting Pakistan's domestic textile industry. He said fresh stock is being imported in the garb of second-hand apparels, most of which is then used for making men's shirts.

Mr. Bashir said high interest rates and the energy crisis have adversely affected the textile sector in the country. He substantiated his claim by divulging export growth figures of all six main textile sub-sectors for 2001-05 and 2006-11.

During the 2001-05 period, when interest rates were low and there was no power shortage, the annual production growth rate was 6 percent for cotton yarn, 10 percent for cotton fabric, 16 percent for bed wear, 20 percent for knitwear, 27 percent for towel and one percent for apparels.

However, the average growth rate in production of cotton yarn was minus 4.7 percent during 2006-11 period, when high interest rates and energy crisis adversely affected the performance of Pakistan's textile industry.

In the same period, bed wear sector witnessed a minus 3.19 percent average growth in production, while garments sector posted a minus 2.4 percent average growth.

Meanwhile, the average annual output rate declined to 8 percent in knitwear sector, 2.7 percent in towel sector, and 0.74 percent in cotton fabric sector during 2006-11 period.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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