ISLAMABAD: The country’s textile group exports declined by around 9.49 percent during the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 and stood at $2.766 billion compared to $3.056 billion during the same period of 2022-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

The data on exports and imports released by PBS revealed that on a month-on-month (MoM) basis textile exports registered 10.95 per cent growth in August 2023 and stood at $1.455 billion compared to $1.311 billion in July 2023.

On year-on-year (YoY) basis, textile exports declined by 7.65 per cent in August 2023 when compared to $1.575 billion in August 2022.

The country’s overall exports during July-August of the fiscal year 2023-24 were $4.434 billion (provisional) against $4.733 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 6.32 per cent.

Textile group exports decline 14.63pc to $16.501bn YoY

The exports in August 2023 were $2.366 billion (provisional) as compared to $2.068 billion in July 2023 showing an increase of 14.41 per cent but decreased by 4.71 per cent as compared to $2.483 billion in August 2022.

Cotton yarn exports increased by 25.79 per cent during the first two months of the current fiscal year as it stood at $201.837 million compared to $160.454 million during the same period of last fiscal year.

On a year-on-year basis, cotton yarn exports registered 17.64per cent growth and stood at $104.806 million when compared to $89.089 million, while on a MoM basis, it registered 8.01 per cent growth when compared to $97.031million in July 2023.

Rice exports declined by 17.33 per cent during the first two months of the current fiscal year and stood at $233.991 million when compared to $283.056 million. Food group exports declined by 1.65 per cent during the first two months of the current fiscal year and stood at $711.748 million when compared to $723.696 million during the same period of last fiscal year.

Main commodities of exports during August 2023 were knitwear (Rs117,892 million), readymade garments (Rs83,447 million), bed wear (Rs74,081 million), cotton cloth (Rs47,002 million), cotton yarn (Rs30,793 million), towels (Rs25,567 million), made-up articles (excl towels and bedwear) (Rs18,377 million), rice others (Rs18,073 million), rice basmati (Rs16,271 million), and meat and meat preparations (Rs11,210 million).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023