ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textile and clothing exports posted double-digit growth in the first month of this fiscal year increasing by 15.61 per cent to $1.471 billion compared to $1.272bn in July 2020, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday.

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 Covid-19, but it recovered in the outgoing fiscal year.

The government has drastically reduced duty and taxes on imports of several hundred raw materials to bring down the input cost of exportable products. Moreover, the liquidity issues are also resolved to a large extent by timely releasing refunds. In the outgoing fiscal year, the commerce ministry released a total of Rs6bn under DLTL schemes. This included Rs5.6bn for textile and Rs400m for non-textile sectors.

The ministry believes it will contribute to improving the liquidity issues of exporters and enable them to enhance Pakistan’s exports.

Details showed ready-made garments exports jumped by 9.83pc in value and in quantity by 8.23pc during July, while those of knitwear edged up 24.4pc in value and 54.66pc in quantity, bed wear posted positive growth of 8pc in value and it drifted in quantity by 1.10pc.

Towel exports dipped by 0.01pc in value and 10.10pc in quantity, whereas those of cotton cloth rose 20.12pc in value and dipped by 81.03pc in quantity.

Among primary commodities, cotton yarn exports surged by 48.49pc, while yarn other than cotton by 61.11pc.

The export of made-up articles — excluding towels — rose by 10.33pc, and tents, canvas and tarpaulin dipped by a massive 44.94pc during the month under review. The export of raw cotton declined by 100pc during the month under review.

The import of textile machinery increased by 96.95pc in July — a sign that expansion or modernisation projects were taken up by the textile industry during the month.

To bridge the shortfall in the domestic sector, the industry imported 49,170 tonnes of raw cotton in July against 32,825 tonnes last year, an increase of 49.79pc. Similarly, the import of synthetic fibre posts growth of 48.90pc as industry imports 53,352 tonnes this year as against 35,831 tonnes. The import of synthetic and artificial silk yarn stood at 45,726 tonnes this year as against 22,968 tonnes last year, a rise of 99pc. The import of worn clothing recorded a growth of 257pc to 90,390 tonnes this year as against 25,270 tonnes last year.

The overall country’s exports posted a growth of over 16.94pc year-on-year to $2.728bn in July compared to $2bn in the corresponding period last year.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021