ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Pakistan is losing share in textile and clothing market access in all the four developed countries in the post-textile quota regime to its three South Asian rivals, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, says a World Trade Organisation (WTO) report.

In the second year, 2006, after the phasing out of the agreement on textiles and clothing, Pakistan’s exports were up only by 12 per cent to US and European Union and nine per cent to Canada. Moreover, textile and clothing exports to Japan declined by seven per cent during the period under review.

According to the World Trade Organisation report released recently, this shrinking in Pakistan’s export of textile and clothing was mainly due to substantial increase in imports from these South Asian countries and China in these four developed countries market. Imports from India, a major supplier to the US, rose 12 per cent in 2006, which was though less than the rate recorded by China (15 per cent), three per cent to EU, 12 per cent to Japan and six per cent to Canada.

Exports from Bangladesh were up by 22 per cent to US, 31 per cent to EU, four per cent to Japan and 19 per cent to Canada.

Sri Lankan export of textile and clothing was up by two per cent to US, 21 per cent to EU, 12 per cent to Japan and no export to Canada.

According to the report, these import developments suggest that introduction of quotas in the US and the EU in the course of 2005 had a restrictive effect on textile imports from China.

On the other hand, deceleration in textile exports from China to Canada was about the same as to the US in the absence of any new quotas.

The new restrictions also had no apparent effect on China’s overall export of textiles and clothing to the world, which increased in 2006 by one-quarter -- somewhat faster than in 2005 (21 per cent).

Exporters from developed countries and those from advanced developing economies in East Asia are losing market share, together with major developing suppliers in Central America and the Mediterranean region, which process textiles originating from developed countries.

China’s exports continued to gain market share in all major developed import markets despite restrictions introduced in 2005.

Some smaller suppliers expanded their textiles and clothing exports even faster than China and the share of least developed countries in imports of the US and the EU increased sharply in 2006.

The annual expansion rate of textiles and clothing imports from China into Canada, US and EU was roughly halved between 2005 and 2006 in each of these three markets.

The combined textile import of the three economies from China rose by 41 per cent in 2005 and is estimated to have increased by 15 per cent in 2006.

Despite sharp deceleration, this rate is still about twice the rate of imports from all sources, with EU intra-trade excluded.

Import of textiles and clothing of the four major developed markets (including Japan) are estimated to have increased by 5.5 per cent to about $350 billion in 2006.

This increase was slightly faster than the preceding year despite deceleration in US import growth to less than four per cent.

In contrast to the moderate overall import growth, intra-Nafta textiles (and clothing) trade was declining and that of intra-EU (25) stagnated in 2006.

US imports from CAFTA members and the Dominican Republic, and Sub-Saharan Africa, declined by seven and 10 per cent respectively.

The strongest decline in US imports (14 per cent) was observed for the more advanced economies in Asia (Hong Kong, China, Chinese Taipei and the Republic of Korea).

US imports from the EU (25), which still exceeded those from India in 2005, decreased by 2.5 per cent in 2006.

The decline in import from these suppliers was balanced by a double-digit increase of imports from six Asian countries.

The re-shuffling of EU import shares had similarities with those of the US market.

Some of the major traditional suppliers (Turkey, Romania, Morocco, Tunisia) lost market shares while Asian developing countries increased their share.

As in the US market, China expanded its role as a leading supplier, but imports from smaller Asian suppliers tended to rise faster than those from China.

Rather untypical is the sharp rise of EU clothing imports from Hong Kong, China in 2006.

Among the developed markets, Japan’s textile and clothing imports are most concentrated on China due to both geographic proximity and the absence of import quotas in the recent past.

More than three-quarters of Japan’s textiles and clothing imports originated from China in 2006. The share exceeds 80 per cent for clothing imports.