Pakistan: Textile exports miss targets despite incentives

KARACHI: Export of most of the textile products especially value-added items fell short of their targets set for the first four months of current financial year, reflecting their inability to penetrate the international market.
Official figures showed that textile products, which make up 62.56 percent in overall exports, were significantly lower against their targets.
As a whole, the export of textile and garment products was $3.669 billion during this period, $274 million or seven percent short of $3.943 billion set for the period under review, though they registered a marginal growth of one percent over the corresponding period of previous year.
Although, few items in the textile category exceeded their targets, it was, however, too low to have a positive impact in overall export of these products and most intriguing is the dismal show of export performance by country’s value added sector particularly bedwear.
The export performance of these items is also disappointing in view of subsidies and incentives worth billion of rupees doled out to this sector over the years to enhance the export of this sector, which is the mainstay of our export sector and economy.
Officials said that despite these incentives, the sector lacks competitiveness to produce quality products to compete with products manufactured in other countries. The local products are low in value-addition, thus fetching low prices in international market as compared with those coming from other countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc. However, the textile exporters contend that price is the main issue because of high cost of production in the country.
“The cost of production is so high that whatever incentives were given to us, they were too short to bail out the industry from crises”, an exporter of textile products said.
The break-up of figures indicates that cotton yarn export stood at $452 million in the said period against the target of $467 million.
The export of raw cotton totalled $11 million against its target of $17 million. Export of cotton fabrics valued $609 million against $706 million.
Export of readymade garments was $465 million against the targeted $484 million.
Bed wear export fetched $608 million against its target of $708 million. Export of towels stood at $174 million against $218 million targeted during the period under review.
On the other hand, items which exceeded their target during the first four months included yarn other than cotton which fetched $21 million against the target of $16 million.
The export of knitwear (hosiery) was $764 million against its target of $753 million. Made-ups excluding bedwear fetched $194 million over $183 million.
Also, the export of tents and canvas, art silk and synthetic textile and other textile items surpassed their targets during this period.