Pakistan’s textile, clothing exports grow by 7.72% in July-October
The Gulf Today | November 24, 2017- Pakistan’s exports of textile and clothing recorded a growth of 7.72 per cent year-on-year in July-October, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. The increase was mainly led by the exports of value-added products, data showed.
The Ministry of Commerce claims the revival of growth in the export sector is due to a cash subsidy offered to exporters under the prime minister’s incentives package and the payment of sales tax refunds.
Data shows exports from the sector increased to $4.4 billion in July-October against $4.07 billion over the corresponding period last year. The share of the textile and clothing sector in overall export proceeds stood at 62.4% during the period under review.
Exports of readymade garments edged up 14.8% in the first four months in value and 12% in quantity. Similarly, exports of knitwear increased 10.6% in value and 11% in quantity during the period under review.
A similar trend was recorded in exports of bed-wear, which went up 5.5% in value. However, these exports fell 0.87% in quantity during the period under review. Exports of towels posted a negative growth of 0.08% in value.
In the category of primary commodities, exports of cotton yarn witnessed a year-on-year increase of 5.04%. There was a decline of 100% in the exports of yarn other than cotton.
Exports of made-up articles, excluding towels, increased 8.8% while those of art, silk and synthetic textile grew 60.6%. However, exports of tents, canvas and tarpaulin dipped 34%. Exports of raw cotton also recorded a year-on-year increase of 46.69%.
IMPORT BILL
The import bill of machinery, oil and eatables increased 18% to $10.29 billion in July-October year-on-year.
The import bill of food products rose 20.2% to $2.19 billion mainly because of the increased arrival of eatable products, including tea, spices, sugar, palm oil and soyabean oil.
Imports of the petroleum group went up 39.46% to $4.43 billion in July-October. A surge in imports of raw and petroleum products was witnessed during the period under review. At the same time, growth also took place in liquefied natural gas imports.
The import bill of machinery fell 1.38% to $3.67 billion. The decline was mainly led by a drop in imports of power-generating machinery, office machinery and construction and mining machinery.
In contrast, a surge in imports of mobile phones and apparatus was recorded during the period under review. Imports of textile machinery and agriculture machinery also witnessed a growth in the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, people rush to buy warm clothes in Islamabad. While the change in government remains hot debate, the change in weather has come to the capital. The new season has also demanded new wardrobe. The chill in the air at the advent of winter has sent people rushing for woolen clothes in different markets.
“A number of stalls have been set-up at a various places selling winter stuff including woolen caps, sweaters, socks and warm clothes,” Inam Ullah, a shopkeeper at G-9 Markaz, said. “I have every kind of warm stuff in stock, but people have mostly been buying woolen caps and sweaters to protect them from cold,” he said.
Asma Zahid, a housewife, complained of higher prices. “I went to the local market to buy warm clothes for my children and observed that the prices of these items were much higher as compared with last year,” she said.
Roadside vendors are also doing a roaring business of warm-apparel, and expect to do much better business in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, prices of blankets, quilts and heating appliances have also gone up.