Textile exports witness nominal increase of 0.08pc in 3 quarters

ISLAMABAD: The textile exports from the country witnessed nominal increase of 0.08 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year compared to the exports of the same period of last year.

The textile exports from the country during July-March  (2018-19) were recorded at $9991.428  million compared to the exports of $9983.065  million during the same period of last year, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The textile commodities that witnessed positive growth in external trade included knitwear, exports of which grew from $1971.906  million last year to $2155.039  million during the current fiscal year, showing growth of 9.29 percent.

The exports of bedwear also increased by 2.69 percent, from $1674.096 million to $1719.185 million whereas the exports of tents, canvas and tarpaulin increased by 3.49 percent, from $65.953 million to $68.252 million.

The exports of readymade garments grew by 2.02 percent, from $1918.313 million to $1957.018 million and the exports of madeup articles (excluding towels) increased by 1.26 percent, from $513.364 million last year to $519.857 million, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, the textile commodities that witnessed negative growth in external trade included raw cotton, exports of which shrunk by 71.84 percent, from $55.825 million last year to $15.721 million.

The exports of cotton yearn also decreased from $987.797 million to $835.325 million, a decline of 15.44 percent whereas the exports of cotton cloth slid by 2.09 percent, from $1630.268 million to $1596.271 million.

Similarly, the exports of yearn (other than cotton yarn) decreased by 3.23 percent, from $23.328 million to $22.574 million while the exports of towels decreased from $598.845 million to $587.779  million, a decline of 1.85 percent.

The exports of art, silk, synthetic textile also slid by  3.21 percent, from $227.770 million to $220.453 million whereas the exports of all other textile materials decreased by 6.91 percent, from $315.595 million to $293.796 million.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the textile exports from the country witnessed negative growth of 9.47 percent in March 2019 compared to the exports of March 2018.

The textile exports during March 2019 were recorded at $1088.870 million against the exports of $1202.780 million.

On month-on-month basis, the textile exports from the country also decreased by 0.12 percent in March 2019 when compared to the exports of $1090.140 million in February 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's merchandize trade deficit plunged by 13.02 percent during July-March (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $3.544 billion to $23.672 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $27.216 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.

The exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 0.11% to $17.08 billion from $17.064 billion during July-March (2017-18).

On the other hand, the imports declined by 7.96% to $40.755 billion from $44.281 billion recorded during first nine months of current fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here.

On year-on-year basis, the imports into the country witnessed negative growth of 20.88% during March 2019 when compared to the imports of same month of last year. The imports during March 2019 were recorded at $4.155 billion against the imports of $5.25 billion in March 2018.