For July 17 the textile exports numbers in Pakistan remain uninspiring. At times where many have showed their hopes for the betterment of the current textile conditions; t looks like there is still need of a spark to kick things off.
An overall look at the numbers reveals that the textile exports, on the whole, have shown a marginal increase of about 3% on the YoY basis. Though this percentage is better than decline, yet cannot be termed as a recovery.
The exports of cotton yarn was registered with an increase of 6.3% whereas the cotton cloth dropped by 8% as compare to the same time in the last year. The readymade garments posted a solid increase of 20.47%, but knitwear and towels declined by 5.8 and 13% respectively. At time where the PM package is too late to be delivered the focus is also a must to be placed on the value added exports like knitwear, readymade garments and different other sectors.
Most of the issues faced by the textile industry are still unsolved, despite of the fact that government made promises a number of times. Frequent load shedding, currency overvaluation and the unwillingness of the Gov to release the pending refunds in timely manner are the reason that lead to the loss of competitiveness of the textile market in the region.
It is alarming to note that the FY17 textile exports of $12.45 billion were 6 percent lower than the previous 3 year average number of $13.2 billion. In the days to come this column will comment on the energy tariff’s role in making textile exports noncompetitive while also analysing the need to subsidize other factor inputs in order to encourage value-addition segments.
