Nominal decline seen in Pakistan textile, clothing exports

Pakistan’s textile and clothing recorded a nominal decline in exports mainly due to lower proceeds from raw material and low value-added products, such as cotton yarn and fabrics.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed the decline in export proceeds to 0.92 percent year-on-year to $10.29 billion in July-April. Exports of value-added products grew during the 10 months in terms of both value and quantity.

Product-wise details show exports of readymade garments rose 5.34pc while those of knitwear dropped 0.17pc in July-April. Exports of bed-wear edged up 5.01pc while those of towels dropped by 4.38pc.

In primary commodities, exports of cotton yarn witnessed a year-on-year decline of 3.68pc while those of cotton cloth and yarn (other than cotton) dropped 5.73pc and 29.48pc, respectively.

Exports of made-up articles, excluding towels, increased 1.18pc and those of tents, canvas and tarpaulin grew 56.22pc. Proceeds from art, silk and synthetic textile exports declined 29.70pc while exports of raw cotton also recorded a year-on-year decline of 47.58pc.

One of the reason for the decline in Pakistan’s textile exports is that the preferential access to the European Union under the GSP+ scheme hasn’t boosted proceeds due to a slump in demand.

In April, the value of exported textile and clothing products declined 0.41pc year-on-year to $1.025bn. Overall export proceeds in July-April were down 2.29pc to $16.91bn.

Last year, the government announced a textile policy that gave a 4pc rebate on the exports of readymade garments on a 10pc incremental increase over the preceding year, 2pc on home-textiles and 1pc on fabric. No support was announced on raw material or yarn exports.

From Jan 15 onwards, the government has not only increased the rebate to 7pc for readymade garments, but also allowed cash support of 4pc on yarn and grey cloth under a Rs180bn package announced by the prime minister.