ISLAMABAD: The country’s textile export has increased by 7.5 per cent to $4.517 billion in fiscal year 2014-15 as compared to previous year’s $4.202 billion.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, exports of readymade garments grew 10.5pc to $2.101 billion from $1.909 billion, and of knitwear rose 5.37pc to $2.416 billion compared to $2.293 billion during the previous year.
The PBS figures show that the government held out support of Rs6 billion, mostly to the value-added textile sector, during FY15 as against Rs3 billion over the previous year.
The import of textile machinery fell by around 20pc year-on-year during FY15, which suggests that there is little interest for investment in diversification or improving the quality of products.
As a result of these and international factors, the exports of primary commodities like raw cotton and cotton yarn dropped 28.29pc and 7.76pc during previous year. Cotton yarn exports were $1.842 billion in 2014-15 as against $1.997 billion during the preceding year. Similarly, exports of cotton cloth declined by 11.38pc to $2.454 billion from $2.769 billion.
Exports of bed-wear also declined during 2014-15 by 1.97pc. However, exports of towels rose by 1.78pc and made-ups by 0.26pc during the year. The strong price effect over quantity effect is the major reason for exports growth of these items.
However, the value of overall textile and clothing products fell to $13.476 billion in 2014-15 as against $13.720 billion, showing a decline of 1.78 per cent.