Raza Khan

Pakistan’s textile exports dropped by 19% in November 2022 compared to the same month of last year, WealthPK reported. According to provisional data released by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), the country’s textile exports were recorded at $1.4 billion in November 2022 compared to $1.74 billion in the same month of 2021. According to APTMA, the decline in textile exports in November is the most significant dip in a single month recorded by the sector during the last few years.

Pakistan recorded its highest monthly textile exports in November 2021. The country’s textile exports in the last fiscal year also remained the highest in the country’s history. However, the textile sector couldn’t sustain the trend of positive growth, and exports started to decline in October this year after recording single-digit growth during the first three months (July, August, and September) of the fiscal year 2022-23.

Source: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association

Earlier, textile exports in October also dropped by 15% and remained at $1.34 billion compared to $1.6 billion during the same month of last fiscal year. Exports in October also fell by 11.84% compared to the preceding month (September).Pakistan’s overall textile exports in the first five months (July-November) also decreased by 4% against the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Textile exports during the first five months of FY23 dropped to $7.44 billion from $7.76 billion during the corresponding period of FY22. According to data, textile exports surged by 1% in July, 8% in August, and 9% in September before dropping by 15% and 19% in October and November, respectively. Asad Naqvi, APTMA’s senior analyst, says a decline in textile exports was alarming. He said the drop was due to various problems, including energy supply issues.

Naqvi feared that textile exports could further go down in the coming months if reliable and affordable energy supplies were not made available. He said that other factors which are halting exports include increase in prices of petroleum products, currency devaluation, expensive raw material and global financial crisis.

APTMA has repeatedly warned that Pakistan’s textile exports could further decline by $400 million to $500 million each month if the problem of energy shortage is not resolved. According to Shahid Sattar, Executive Director APTMA, non-availability of cotton, non-functioning units, stuck cotton consignments at port and high-interest rates caused a decline in textile exports.

Shahid Sattar said Pakistan’s cotton production has dropped by 50% from 14 million bales to 6 million bales, inflicting $2 billion in annual losses on the textile industry and at least $10 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP). He said that gas/RLNG (re-gasified liquified natural gas) being supplied to textile mills in Punjab province was less than one-third of the required quantity of 200mmcfd.

Pakistan’s textile exports were registered at $19.329 billion in 2021-22 against $15.4 billion in the preceding year, with an increase of 25.53%. Textile exports are the major portion of the country’s overall exports and the textile sector hosts over 50% of the industrial workforce in Pakistan. Textile exports in 2021-22 accounted for 60.92% of the country’s total exports of $31.76 billion. According to Textiles and Apparel Policy 2020-25, the textile exports target for the current year has been set at $25 billion.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk