The Pakistani textile exports, for the 5MFY18 have shown a moderate increase of 8 % on a year-on-year basis to clock in at $5.51 billion. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) numbers released last week, textile exports for Nov-17 increased by 7 % as compared to the corresponding period last year.
The growth was led by value added segments, which managed to counteract the effect of dampening cotton yarn and cotton cloth exports. Also the PBS statistics reveals a decent growth in double digits for knitwear exports, which increased by 18 % while readymade garments and bed-wear posted a 14 % and 12 % growth respectively, on a year-on-year basis.
On the other hand, cotton yarn and cotton cloth continued their lacklustre performance to post negative growth of 8 % and 7 % respectively, on a month-on-month basis. Countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh have focused on shifting their product mix in line with evolving textile consumer preferences, which have allowed them to increase their market share whereas Pakistan’s textile sector is struggling to cope up.
The imposition of anti-dumping and regulatory duties on raw materials used by the industry has resulted in increased cost of production for garment exporters. Given that the sector is one of the leading earners of foreign exchange for the economy, policies should be drafted for relief to garment manufacturers and exporters.
