By Arsalan Ali

ISLAMABAD, July 21: The export of readymade garments from Pakistan increased 28.75 percent and reached $3,904.658 million in the financial year 2021-22 as compared to $3,032.812 million in the fiscal year 2020-21, WealthPK reports.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the export volume of  readymade garments from the country was $368.699 million in June 2022 as compared to $321.670 million in May 2022, showing an increase of 14.62 percent.

On year-on-year basis, the export of readymade garments showed an increase of 13.13 percent as its volume was $325.910 million in June 2021.

Amjad Hussain, an assistant manager at Sadaqat Textile Mills, said readymade garments contributed 20 percent to the total textile export of $19.329 billion by Pakistan in the financial year 2022. He added that the readymade garments industry showed remarkable progress.

He said that the hosiery products of Pakistan were known for their quality and comfort. “The garment industry is rapidly expanding due to industrialisation, resulting in the emergence of small-scale industries with high demand at home and abroad,” he added.

Amjad Hussain said that the garment industry provided employment to a large number of people and required little capital investment. At present, more than 5,000 garment units are operating in Pakistan of which 12 percent are large-scale units and the remaining 88 percent are small-scale.

He said the majority of the units producing cotton fashion garments were small and medium-sized in terms of machines, workers and output. “The importance of this industry lies in the value it adds to raw materials, thus substantially increasing the revenue from its sale in the international market,” he added.

According to him, the industry produces a wide range of garments for men, women and children including embroidered clothes, shirts, skirts, maxi, nightdresses and tracksuits. All these items are made of cotton fabrics and synthetic fibre and exported to developed countries and regions like the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia.

Amjad Hussain said that demand for woven garments increased rapidly in recent years. He said that North America and the European Union were the major importers of Pakistani garments. “In order to promote the industry, Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association was established in 1980,” he added.

He said that two technical training institutes, one in Karachi and the other in Lahore, provided technical training to workers in a variety of disciplines, enabling them to produce quality products for their users.

He said that the government should help the garments industry by arranging training for its workers, providing modern technology, improving its access to credit, and extending professional consultancy services to garment units so that Pakistani exporters could compete with their rivals in the international market.

Amjad Hussain said that new technology for mass customisation, non-contact body measurement and digital printing would play a vital role in the development of the industry. “The garments industry has tremendous potential to meet high demand patterns that will help to earn foreign reserves and have a positive impact on the trade deficit,” he told WealthPK.

Credits: INP-WealthPk