Pakistan’s textile exports from January to November 2019 were five per cent higher than exports last fiscal. The industry has no surplus to boost exports and is sitting on obsolete technology and is inefficient. Textile exports have remained stagnant since 2012-13. The textile story, in fact, has been the same for over a decade. The industry is dominated by the spinning sector. Basic textiles have flourished on subsidies while the value-added sector is neglected.

Big players are involved in the basic textile sector, while in value-added textiles the exports are dominated by small players. There are thousands of such exporters but 90 per cent of bank finances go to the yarn and fabric sectors and the rest to the value-added sector that accounts for 60 per cent of Pakistan’s textile exports. Per unit rates in all subsectors of textiles are the lowest in Pakistan, compared with competing economies’.

Exporters are paying a premium because of the negative perception of their country abroad. In real terms Pakistan’s textile exports have remained stagnant in the last six years. During this period textile exports from Bangladesh and Vietnam increased at a compound rate of over 7 to 10 per cent. Pakistan’s share in global textile trade has declined from 2.2 per cent at the start of the century to less than 1.70 per cent.