ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textile and clothing exports posted impressive growth in the first two months of this year increasing by 28.67 per cent to $2.93 billion compared to $2.28bn over the year, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

It is believed that the easing of lockdown in North American and European countries — top markets for Pakistani textile goods — will help boost the exports. The demand for textiles collapsed during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it recovered in the outgoing fiscal year.

In the last budget, the government has drastically reduced duty and taxes on imports of several hundred raw materials to bring down the input cost of exportable products. Liquidity issues were also resolved to a large extent by timely releasing refunds.

The PBS data showed ready-made garments exports jumped by 22.57pc in value and in quantity by 21.63pc during July-Aug FY22, while those of knitwear edged up 34.12pc in value and 14.22pc in quantity, bed wear posted positive growth of 24.50pc in value and it drifted in quantity by 23.06pc.

Towel exports were up by 20.67pc in value and 14.59pc in quantity, whereas those of cotton cloth rose by 24.74pc in value and dipped by 76.51pc in quantity.

Among primary commodities, cotton yarn exports surged by 67.97pc, while yarn other than cotton by 123pc. The export of made-up articles — excluding towels — rose by 21.26pc, and tents, canvas and tarpaulin dipped by a massive 37.19pc during the months under review. The export of raw cotton declined by 100pc during the months under review.

The import of textile machinery increased by 160.5pc in July-Aug FY22 — a sign that expansion or modernisation projects were taken up by the textile industry during the months.

To bridge the shortfall in the domestic sector, the industry imported 102,408 tonnes of raw cotton in July-Aug FY22 against 74,799 tonnes last year, an increase of 36.91pc. Similarly, the import of synthetic fibre posted growth of 17.27pc as industry imported 91,118 tonnes this year as against 77,701 tonnes. The import of synthetic and artificial silk yarn stood at 78,059 tonnes this year as against 52,406 tonnes last year, a rise of 48.95pc. The import of worn clothing recorded a growth of 282pc to 186,299 tonnes this year as against 48,644 tonnes last year.

The overall country’s exports posted a growth of over 27.98pc year-on-year to $4.587bn in July-Aug FY22 compared to $3.584bn in the corresponding period last year.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2021