There’s been a speculation regarding an increase in the import of Pakistan’s cotton yarn in 2021. It could be due to the increase in demand with extension of GSP Plus status by the EU, implementation of 2nd phase of CPFTA (China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement), relief packages from the government, permission of export of all PPEs and, removal of earlier 5.00 per cent of regulatory duty on cotton yarn import.
Due to Covid-19, an extreme decline was observed in the import of cotton yarn in Pakistan in May 2020. The value of cotton yarn import moved down to $1.88 million in May 2020 with a plunge of 72.43 per cent over the previous month. It remained around $2.00 million per month from May 2020 to August 2020. It recovered in September 2020 with a growth of 134.17 per cent over the previous month.
The EU’s extension of the GSP Plus till 2022 is expected to boost Pakistan’s textiles exports by $500 million annually, according to Abdul Razak Dawood, adviser to Pakistan’s PM on Commerce.
The total cotton yarn import of Pakistan in 2020 dropped 37.19 per cent to $65.39 million compared to previous year, with an average of $5.45 million per month (2019: average $8.68 million). In 2021, cotton yarn import into Pakistan is expected to increase by approximately 20.00 per cent to 25.00 per cent compared to the imports in 2020. Pakistan’s cotton yarn import is expected to reach to $81.74 million in 2021.
