Textile exports drop 7.34pc to $11bln in July-May

KARACHI: Textile exports continued to drop in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year as barring readymade garments the foreign exchange earnings from all other exportable products decreased, official data said on Monday. 

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed that textile exports declined 7.34 percent to $11.468 billion in July-May 2015/16 over the same period last year. 

The biggest decline was in the exports of cotton carded/combed with 97 percent, followed by raw cotton (48.04 percent), cotton yarn (32 percent), tents, canvas and tarpaulin (26 percent) and yarn (23 percent). 

The PBS data showed that exports of readymade garments increased 4.84 percent to $1.993 billion in the July-May period of 2015/16. 

The data further showed that food exports decreased 12.78 percent to $3.706 billion. Rice exports slid 9.77 percent to $1.716 billion. Fish and preparation exports dipped 5.92 percent to $305 million. Exports of fruits and vegetables dropped 4.03 percent to $399 million and 8.11 percent to $199 million, respectively. Exports of meat and meat preparations increased 13.4 percent to $253 million. 

In July-May, exports of leather garments and products slipped 12.55 percent to $480.636 million. Exports of engineering goods decreased 16.83 percent to $170.483 million. 

In the period under review, the country’s total exports declined 12.39 percent to $19.151 billion. 

The PBS said textile exports decreased 3.53 percent to $1.072 billion in May over the same month a year ago, while they increased 3.81 percent over the preceding month. 

In May, food exports dropped 12.94 percent to $338 million over the same month a year earlier, but they grew 2.90 percent over the preceding month.  Total imports also declined 2.80 percent to $40.298 billion in the July-May period of the current fiscal year. 

Imports of petroleum products and crude dropped 36.21 percent to $6.814 billion in the period under review over the same period a year ago. Agriculture and chemical imports decreased 3.53 percent to $6.611 billion.

Imports of raw cotton, synthetic fiber and worn clothing rose 26.18 percent to $2.929 billion in the period under review. Machinery imports increased 16.77 percent to $7.796 billion.