Under Make-in-Pakistan Initiative: Govt plans to help major global brands open business outlets in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Under the ‘Make in Pakistan Initiative’, the government is making its mind to bring major international brands to Pakistan for more sourcing with Pakistan’s enterprises in their joint ventures. To this effect, international brands and retailers would be provided office spaces for their business outlets (offices) to incentivize their physical presence in Pakistan.

More importantly, the first 6 months of costs are to be met through upfront financing from the Export Development Fund (EDF), a senior official of the Commerce Ministry told The News.

Only 48% of US apparel firms are sourcing from Pakistan, compared to 97% from China and Vietnam, 83% from Bangladesh, and 76 percent from India. However, in the wake of perpetual trade war between the US and China, US firms are visibly shifting their sourcing from China to other countries, and keeping in view this fact, the authorities in the Commerce Ministry have accelerated their efforts to allure more US companies to go for sourcing from Pakistan.

According to the USFIA Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study, based on surveys of 30 leading US fashion companies, 69% of firms express optimism or cautious optimism about the US fashion industry over the next five years. Their expansion plans indicate the growing importance of supply chain management risk mitigation, and environmental sustainability.

The US fashion industry is shifting from “China plus Vietnam plus many” to “Asia plus Rest of the World”; finding a new sourcing base other than China is a top priority for US fashion firms with nearly 80 percent of firms planning to reduce apparel sourcing from China over the next two years. This presents two opportunities for Pakistan which include directly increasing sourcing to international firms looking to reduce sourcing from China and catering to Chinese firms looking to outsource their production outside China.

Pakistan’s textile and apparel industry leaders will hold ‘Make in Pakistan’ roadshow in the Heimtex exhibition to be held on 9-12th January 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, to woo foreign industry leaders to increase their physical presence of sourcing houses in Pakistan.

The country’s industry kiosks will be built in the Heimtex exhibition to showcase export capacity and capability. Pakistan businessmen will increase their networking with global textiles and apparel industry leaders. The roadshows will also be held in January and February at various international cities Paris, Miami, New York, and Los Vegas.

The country’s business leaders will target during the ‘Make in Pakistan’ roadshows the high-priority international firms for sourcing purposes such as Nike, Inc which has the annual revenue of $44.5 billion, The TJX companies $4.5 billion, Walmart $559.2 billion, Target Minneapolis $93.6 billion, Macy’s New York $17.3 billion, Nordstrom, $15.0 billion, Dick’s Sporting Goods, $9.6 billion, American Eagle Outfitters $3.75 billion, Abercrombie & Fitch $3.71 billion, PVH Corporation $9.1 billion, VF Corporation Denver, $10.5 billion, and Gap Inc. $16.4 billion (2020), Mango Barcelona, $2.1 billion, Primark (part of Associated British Foods) Dublin $10.6 billion, Adidas AG Herzogenaurach, $27.2 billion, Inditex Arteijo, Spain $24.3 billion, C&A (C&A Europe) $7.2 billion (2020) H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) Stockholm, Sweden $21.5 billion, Fast Retailing Companies Ltd $20.6 billion, Anta Sports Products Ltd Jinjiang, China $6.7 billion, Boohoo Manchester, UK $1.6 billion, John Lewis, UK $13.8 billion, ASOS London, UK $4.4 billion, River Island London, UK $1.1 billion, Next Plc Enderby, UK $5.5 billion, Marks & Spencer London, UK $12.4 billion, and JD Sports (sports apparel) Bury, with annual turnover UK $8.4 billion.