Textile sector exports jump over a quarter in July-April

By Israr Khan
May 15, 2022

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textiles exports increased by more than a quarter in the first ten months of the outgoing fiscal on increasing international demand.

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Textile group exports in July-April 2021-22 were recorded at $15.981 billion against $12.688 billion in the same period last year, showing an increase of 25.96 percent, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Saturday.

Textiles make over three-fifth of the country’s total exports. In April 2022, sector exports stood at $1.739 billion as compared to $1.332 billion in the same month a year ago, a growth of 30.5 percent, while grew 7 percent over the previous month. The exports of this group stood at $1.625 billion in March 2022.

In the textiles group, cotton yarn exports increased 22.1 percent during the period to $1.01 billion compared to $823.95 million in the same time last year. The exports decreased 4.95 percent in April 2022 to $97.655 million from $102.736 million in the same month last year.

Cotton cloth exports increased 26.8 percent to $2.0 billion, knitwear 35 percent to $4.22 billion, bedwear 19 percent to $2.7 billion, towels 19.4 percent to $927.9 million, readymade garments 28 percent to $3.2 billion and made-up articles’ exports increased 13 percent to $710 million in these ten months.

During these 10 months, construction and mining machinery imports increased 33.19 percent to $151.852 million compared to $114.012 million in the same period last year.

Rice export also increased 20.3 percent to $2.05 billion, of which basmati exports increased 22 percent to $574 million.

During July-April 2021-22, Pakistan’s total imports surged to a whopping $65.5 billion, while exports clocked in at $26.23 billion.

In the same period of the last fiscal, imports stood at $44.73 billion and exports at $20.91 billion. This translates into a 25.46 percent growth in exports and a 46.4 percent increase in imports. The trade deficit widened 65 percent to $39.26 billion.

Meanwhile, PBS in a press statement said the main commodities of exports during April 2022 were knitwear (Rs90,096 million), readymade garments (Rs64,669 million), bed wear (Rs51,398 million), cotton cloth (Rs38,763 million), towels (Rs19,974 million), cotton yarn (Rs18,016 million), made-up articles (excluding towels and bedwear) (Rs15,277 million), rice basmati (Rs15,198 million), other rice varieties (Rs32,704 million), and surgical goods and medical instruments (Rs8,067 million).

Main commodities of imports during April 2022 were petroleum products (Rs232,765 million), petroleum crude (Rs98,427 million), LNG (Rs71,072 million), palm oil (Rs67,840 million), plastic materials (Rs51,678 million), mobile phone (Rs39,460 million), raw cotton (Rs38,533 million), iron and steel (Rs35,157 million), iron and steel scrap (Rs32,751 million), and electrical machinery and apparatus (Rs28,572 million).

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