KARACHI: Pakistani textile exporters are hoping to obtain foreign orders worth $1 billion from Heimtextil fair on the opening day of the world’s largest home textile event in Germany.
This was stated by the Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Sheikh Ilyas Mahmood while talking to members of the Association here on the phone. Pakistani textiles have received good response at the opening day of the fair.
Expressing high hopes, Sheikh Ilyas Mahmood said that although Pakistani exhibitors are lesser in number this year than previous one, they have been able to get a positive response from international buyers on first day of the event.
Heimtextil, being biggest international trade fair for home textiles and global benchmarks for quality design textiles of innovative functionality had great importance for Pakistani textile exporters as retailers around the globe visit this fair for new fashion trends and to place their orders for coming spring season, he said.
World’s renowned departmental stores like Wal-Mart and JC Penney also stock their inventories through this exhibition. Pakistan is a noted participant of the Heimtextil fair for the last many years and has been earning millions of dollars of precious foreign exchange every year by getting export orders through this event. This year 222 textile exporters of home textile bed-wear and towel manufactures have displayed their products in the exhibition.
Ilyas Mahmood termed GSP plus status as a great edge for Pakistani textiles and said that duty waiver facility has provided great support to the exporters enabling them to compete well with regional rivals in international market.
“At the opening day of the exhibition, our exporters were confident, while the rival exporters failed to receive response. However, Chinese exporters are giving a tough time to the Pakistani exporters,” he added. “Despite deceptive propaganda that Pakistani exporters could not fulfil their export commitment on time due to energy shortage, Pakistani textiles have received positive response of the buyers,” he said.
