Pakistan garments exports to EU increasing under GSP plus scheme

Pakistan’s exports to EU which had reached $7.52bn in calendar year 2014 from $6.22bn over 2013, an increase of 21.24pc in the first year of GSP plus scheme is showing marginal increase in its growth. According to EU official data, Pakistan’s garments exports to EU reached $1.463 billion in January-July 2015 from $1.437bn over the corresponding period of last year.

In euro terms, the value of garments exports to EU witnessed a growth of 26.78pc during the period under review and in quantity terms, exports of garments increased by 6.48pc to 104,467.10 metric tonnes from 98,110.30 metric tonnes over the previous year.

With garments exports to EU increasing, the textile garments sector of Pakistan under GSPplus scheme appears to be the sole beneficiary of preferential access to the 28-nation European Union.

Contrary to this, exports of home textile dropped by 5.563pc to $934.35 million in Jan-July 2015 period this year from $989.39m over the corresponding period of last year. However, in euro terms, export of home-textile witnessed a growth of 17pc during the period under review.

In quantity terms, exports of home textiles stood at 150,720.7 metric tonnes during the period under review as against 140,968.2 metric tonnes over the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 6.471pc.

According to trade analysts, the decline in exports to EU is due to depreciation of Euro vis-à-vis dollar. There is a decline in export earnings of all countries when the exchange rate values are being adjusted.

Further analysis shows that export of cotton and intermediary goods of textile also dropped by 19.5pc to $522.73m during the Jan-July 2015 period from $639.37m over the corresponding period of last year. The decline was also witnessed in terms of quantity, which dropped by 8.1pc during the period under review.

Another major commodity other than textile is carpets and rugs exports of which dropped by 7.06pc to $22.62m during Jan-July 2015 as against $24.34m over the corresponding period of last year.

According to statistics, export of total textiles has dropped by 4.75pc to $2.943bn during Jan-July 2015 from $3.09bn over the corresponding period of last year. Textile alone constitutes around 80pc of the total exports to EU during Jan-July 2015 while the remaining 20pc are shared by all other products.

The total exports to EU dropped by 15.46pc to $4.237bn in Jan-Aug 2015 from $5.012bn over the corresponding period of last year. But in terms of quantity, overall exports increased by 1.234pc during the period under review. This shows concentration of exports baskets in few products to EU as well.