Pakistan’s textile sector earned $8.283 billion from exports during the first half of the current financial year (2023-24), the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday.
However, this represents a 4.97 percent decline compared to the $8.716 billion earned in the same period of the previous year (2022-23).
Among the various textile products, certain commodities showed an increase in export value.
Notably, raw cotton exports surged by 374.66 percent, rising from $11.253 million last year to $53.412 million this year. Cotton yarn exports also grew significantly by 54.25 percent, from $381.545 million to $588.529 million, and towel exports experienced a modest increase of 1.72 percent, from $491.696 million to $500.133 million.
Conversely, several textile commodities experienced a decline in exports. Cotton cloth exports decreased by 13.10 percent, falling from $1.066 billion to $926.677 million.
Other products such as cotton carded or combed, yarn other than cotton yarn, and knitwear also saw declines of 27.33 percent, 13.85 percent, and 10.65 percent, respectively.
Additional decreases were noted in the exports of bedwear, which fell by 3.55 percent to $1.377 billion, tents, canvas, and tarpaulin by 1.45 percent to $60.941 million, and ready-made garments by 8.93 percent to $1.669 billion.
Exports of art, silk, synthetic textile, madeup articles, and other textile materials also witnessed decline.
On a positive note, textile exports in December 2023 increased by 3.33 percent year-on-year, from $1.354 billion in December 2022 to $1.399 billion. On a month-on-month basis, there was a 6.15 percent growth compared to November 2023’s exports of $1.318 billion.
In the broader economic context, Pakistan’s overall merchandise trade deficit saw a significant contraction of 34.29 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last year.
The trade deficit was recorded at $11.148 billion, down from $16.965 billion in the previous year. The exports during this period rose by 5.17 percent to $14.981 billion, while imports saw a decrease of 16.28 percent, totaling $26.129 billion.
