According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the country’s exports of value-added textile products went up by 7.5 per cent to $4.517 billion in 2014-15 from $4.202 billion a year ago. Exports of readymade garments grew 10.5 per cent to $2.101 billion from $1.909 billion, while knitwear rose 5.37 per cent to $2.416 billion compared to $2.293 billion during the previous year.

The government support of Rs 6 billion during FY 15 as against Rs 3 billion during 2014, helped achieve these figures. This was mostly extended to the value-added textile sector. This clearly shows the government’s intention to remove imbalance in the exports sector to create jobs for the youth. Besides, preferential access to the 28-nation European Union under GSP+ scheme is also one more reason for the rise in these exports.

Also, a five-year textile policy to promote the segment, which is incentive heavy has been implemented by the government. A textile package of Rs 40.6 billion would require an ongoing firm commitment from the finance ministry and other relevant authorities. However, another Rs 23 billion development infrastructure projects foreseen in the policy would need approval from the Planning Commission, which is quite a difficult task. The government announced Rs 188 billion for the previous textile policy (2009-2014), but actually released Rs 28 billion.

Moreover, as the world is continuously moving from cotton to man-made fibre, the announcement of deemed import basis for PSF (Polyester Staple Fibre) will augment man-made fibre content in export products. The ratio has reversed from 60-40 to 40-60 within 10 years and in Pakistan, the ratio is 86-14, which is quite low according to international demands.