ISLAMABAD: Textile and clothing exports rose 6.2 per cent year-on-year to $1.064 billion in March, mainly driven by value-added products such as garments, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. The increase in export proceeds was also evident in rupee terms.

The data for the month shows that exports of value-added products grew during the month, both in terms of value and quantity.

Product-wise details show that exports of readymade garments rose 19.5pc while that of knitwear grew 5.4pc in March. Exports of bedwear edged up by 5.4pc while those of towels 15.8pc during the month.

In primary commodities, exports of cotton yarn witnessed a year-on-year increase of 5pc while those of cotton cloth and yarn (other than cotton’s) dropped 5.5pc and 26.9pc, respectively.

Exports of made-up articles, excluding towels, increased 16pc, and that of tents, canvas and tarpaulin grew 71.8pc. Proceeds from art, silk and synthetic textile increased by 2.7pc while those from raw cotton dropped 2.9pc year-on-year.

One reason why textile exports are in decline is that the preferential access to the European Union under the GSP+ scheme hasn’t helped boost proceeds due to slump in demand.

In the nine months through March, the value of exported textile and clothing products fell 0.89pc year-on-year to $9.278bn. Overall export proceeds in July-March were down 3pc to $15.118bn.

Last year, the government announced a textile policy involving 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. However, no support was announced on raw material or yarn exports.

Under this policy, the government paid out Rs2.5bn to exporters in the preceding fiscal year. This shows the policy worked to some extent and promoted exports of value-added textile products.

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

One reason for the textile package — announced for January 2017 to June 2018 — was the need to counter the rising cost of production.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017