KARACHI: The country’s textile and clothing exports declined by 16.23 per cent to $1.033 billion in March from $1.233 billion during the same month last year.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data, the fall was witnessed for the second consecutive month, after posting a positive growth of 10.23pc in January 2015. During the first nine months (July-March) of 2014-15, the exports of textile and clothing also witnessed a negative growth of 1.57pc.
The total exports stood at $17.930 billion in July-March 2014-15 as compared to $19.072 billion in the same period last year, reflecting a decline of 5.99pc.
Product-wise details show that export of low value-added products, such as cotton yarn, dropped by 29.36pc; yarn other than cotton yarn 31.04pc and made-up textile excluding towels by 13.62pc; cotton carded 35.77pc and cotton cloth by 14.45pc. The export of art, silk also dipped by 24.87pc.
Moreover, raw cotton export witnessed a steep decline of 85.72pc during the month from a year ago.
Exports of value-added products also witnessed a decline during the month. Export of knitwear decreased by 7.41pc, readymade garments by 5.20pc, bedwear dropped by 16.84pc and towels by 19.03pc. However, only tents exports witnessed a growth of 42.38pc during the month.