French Ministry of Economics Senior Economist Dr Dinan Hocharich advised Pakistan business community to improve its garment production if it wants to increase its market share. Making a presentation on China's accession to the WTO and its consequences for Asian Countries organised by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted that Pakistani's textile market shares were on the decline precisely in its world markets.
She said Pakistan's small share in world market was due to fierce competition, mainly from China, South Korea and the ASEAN.
Quoting different studies, she said Pakistan could rise its textile and clothing market shares by 62 to 67 percent, respectively. Other studies arrived at similar optimistic conclusions though with different numbers.
She said textile and apparel was the largest Pakistani industry, representing 30 percent of industrial output, 40 percent of industrial employment and 60 percent of exports earning. Despite its importance to Pakistan's economy, Pakistan textile industry held a tiny share of the world market- 2.2 percent for textiles and less than 1 percent for clothes- its main markets were North America, the EU and Japan.
Resourcefulness explains China's and ASEAN performances, which contrast to Pakistan's under performance. Well-trained manpower was associated with automatic weaving looms. Furthermore, those countries were able to adapt to changes in demand, which was essential to succeed in that industry.
She said induced by industrial policy, Pakistan produces yarn of good quality for export, but its textiles and clothes were of poor quality, while Korea, Japan and even China produced good textiles and clothes which imported yarn from Pakistan.
Those goods had much higher value added than yarn. Trying to help small firms and artisans, the industrial policy favoured spindles to the detriment of the organised weaving sector-the mill sector-, which was shrinking since the 70s. This policy favours the un-organised weaving sector (The non-mill sector), which mostly produces handmade low-quality fabrics, whom the mill sector was neglected, she said.
The French Senior Economist further stated that measures intend to protect textile industry from the multifiber agreement, but it resulted in a setback in textile competitiveness.
Moreover, she said Pakistan's garment were cotton made, but consumers in developed countries prefer synthetic ones. This was particularly important, as textile world trade had switched from cloth to clothes, she said. So Pakistan needed to improve its garment production if it wanted to increase its market share.