ISLAMABAD: The country’s textile group exports declined by around 0.25 percent during the first nine months (July-March 2023-24) to $12.44 billion from $12.476 billion for the same period a year before (July-March 2022-23), according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The monthly detailed data of imports and exports uploaded by the PBS on its website said the country’s overall exports during July-March 2023-24 stood at $22.930 billion against $21.036 billion for the same of last fiscal year (202-23), reflecting an increase of 9.01per cent.

The exports in March 2024 stood at $ 2.571 billion as compared to $2.582 billion in February 2024, reflecting a decrease of 0.42 per cent over February, however, when compared to the same month a year before, it increased by 8.08 per cent as compared to $2.366 billion in March 2023.

The data released by PBS revealed that on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, textile exports registered 3.29 percent growth in March 2024 and stood at $1.299 billion against $1.257 billion in March 2023 but decreased by 7.67 per cent to $$1.299 billion from $ 1.407 billion in February 2024.

Raw cotton export increased by 331.88 per cent to $56.086 million in July-March 2024 from $12.987 million in July-March 2022-23, cotton yarn exports increased by 38.17 per cent to $791.808 million from $573.084 million. Export of cotton cloth decreased by 7.49 per cent to 1.422 billion during July-March 2024 from $1.538 billion in July March 2022-23. Cotton carded decreased by 24.50 per cent during the period under review, yarn other than cotton decreased by 19.5 per cent knitwear by 4.43 per cent.

In the food group, rice exports increased by 83.37 per cent during July-March 2023-24 to $2.939 billion from $1.598 billion during July-March 2022-23. Food group exports have increased by 48.17 per cent and stood at $5.651 billion from $3.814 billion during July-March 22022-23. Basmati rice exports increased by 36.37 per cent to $622.345 million from $456.357 million.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024