The textile and its allied sectors in India and China were able to overcome the effects of the economic turmoil and the resultant slowdown due to a strong domestic market, which is not the case for Pakistan.
The main reason attributed to this is the rampant smuggling of fabrics and used clothing in to Pakistan. According to experts, the domestic textile sector in Pakistan has only a 20 percent share of the local markets.
They also aver that China and India have better controls to restrict smuggling of fabrics and used clothing, which has been able to help the domestic textile and clothing industry find a footing in local markets.
Pakistan imported 263.371 million kg of used (or worn) clothing worth Rs 7.68 billion in 2008-09. This means that the per capita used clothing consumption in Pakistan is 1.62 kg.
The Indians on the other hand imported only 43.640, which translate into per capita consumption of worn clothing in India to only 0.03 kg.
The Pakistani markets are flooded with fabrics and dresses of Chinese and Indian origin and since they are smuggled, are cheaper than their domestic counterparts, which further restricts penetration of locally produced textiles.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India