ISLAMABAD, July 19: Pakistan does not figure in 81 per cent of products traded in the world as its top 200 export products account for 91 per cent of its total exports, but these products have only 19pc share in the international market, says a commerce ministry report.

In 2006, 5,085 products were traded worldwide; of which Pakistan only traded in 1,365 products.

It is, however, encouraging that markets in which Pakistan figures, it is ranked very high in world market shares.

For example, in cotton yarn and woven cotton fabrics, it is No. 1, while in cotton bed linen, toilet and kitchen linen and cotton knitted shirts, it is No. two, and in rice, it is No. 3 in terms of world market shares.

A good trend is the growth in non-traditional category of exports. Some of non-textile items whose exports increased in 2007-08 include petroleum group [$1.203 billion], cement [$411.055 m], chemicals and pharmaceuticals [$627.306m], jewelry [$202.742m], leather products [$687.481m], surgical and medical instruments [$255.497m].

In the category of ‘others’, the increase in exports during this period was $914.571 million.

Some of the items included in this category are marble, matches, plastic items, wood items, ceramics, tiles and sanitary fixtures and various household commodities.

Increase in this category is good evidence of progress in diversification and movement towards export of value-added items.

In terms of market diversification in 1998-99, the seven markets -- US, Germany, Japan, UK, Hong Kong, Dubai and Saudi Arabia -- accounted for 53.4 per cent of our exports, whereas in 2007-08 this share reduced to around 44.4 per cent.

The three regional groupings that are significant from Pakistan’s growth point of view are: Latin American countries, such as Brazil. Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua, African countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique, non-traditional European markets, including those belonging to the former Soviet bloc, such as Scandinavian countries, Poland and Greece.

If one looks at the trend from 2003-04 to 2006-07, one sees that growth of exports during this period was around 114 pc in Latin America, 81pc in Africa and 60pc in the European group of countries.

“This diversification trend is healthy and needs to be sustained, but in the immediate future, we cannot afford not to shift our focus from textile exports since they constitute around 57 per cent of our total exports.

“It is, however, noteworthy that the share of textile and clothing exports in global trade is 4.5pc and Pakistan’s share in global exports of this sector is a mere 2.15 pc,” said the report.

This indicates that Pakistan is facing fierce competition in this sector from a number of countries.

On the other hand, new opportunities are emerging since some of our competitors, like China, are losing their competitive edge due to higher input costs. Therefore, our textile producers need to exploit this opportunity by entering into joint ventures with Chinese companies and setting up of production facilities in the China Specific Industrial Zones being established in Pakistan.

If one looks at the trend since 2003-04, in the first two years, exports rose by around $2 billion each year while in 2006-07, exports rose by only around half a billion dollars.

Imports on the other hand increased by around $5 billion in 2004-05, by $8 billion in 2005-06 and then dipped to register an increase of only $2 billion in 2006-07.

The year 2006-07 saw a decrease of growth of both imports and exports, hence confirming a correlation between higher imports and exports. This year again imports compared to last year have increased by $9.428 billion in 2007-08 whereas exports have also increased by $ 2.246 billion.

Bed-wear a major item declined in the US market due to stiff competition from India and China, as well as preferential tariffs available to our other competitors under arrangements, such as NAFTA, CAFTA and AGOA etc.

In the European Union, bed-linen exports suffered due to an average anti-dumping duty of 5.7pc.

Moreover, our competitors, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, have duty-free access whereas our textiles attract on average a duty of 17-23pc.

The happy news is that the anti-dumping duty will run its course by January-February 2009 and our bed linen exports should pick up after that.

Towel exports have decreased due to higher cotton and yarn prices, the marketing of our textiles is hampered by visa restrictions for our businessmen and travel advisories, preventing buyers coming to Pakistan.

Less emphasis on quality and compliance issues is also hurting our textile exports, says the report.