Pakistan’s textile industry exports have dropped both in quantity and value terms in the month of September 2015.
One of the major reasons is the high cost of energy, both gas and electricity. This has hindered the industry’s capacity to produce an exportable surplus. Once uninterrupted energy is available the industry is confident it can make up for the shortfall by bringing its dormant and impaired capacities back on production track.
The fall in basic textile exports has been more steep than the fall in apparel exports in quantity terms. Yarn exports dropped by 14.5 per cent. Cloth exports fell by 22.43 per cent, yarn other than cotton yarn by 11.9 per cent, bed wear by nine per cent, tents and canvas by 79 per cent, and art, silk and synthetic textiles by 67 per cent in quantity terms. Apparel exports were down by 11.49 per cent in readymade garments and 4.3 per cent in knitwear in spite of the GSP Plus facility.
About 70 per cent of Pakistan’s textile industry is located in the province of Punjab. The industry has been facing an unprecedented declining trend in exports over the last one year. It wants measures to be implemented by the government that will help it become viable.
