Textile exports rise modestly to $15.24bn in July-May FY24

ISLAMABAD: Textile exports rose by just 1.4 percent to $15.24 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, a marginal increase attributed to reduced market demand and lower international prices.

Key segments of the sector gave a mixed performance in their sales abroad. Readymade garments, bedwear, towels, and cotton yarn exports increased while sales of knitwear and cotton cloth contracted during July-May 2023-24, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported Friday.

Monthly, the textile group’s exports increased for the fifth consecutive month and in May 2024, it increased by 18 percent to $1.558 billion against $1.32 billion in May 2023.

In December 2023, textile exports saw a year-on-year increase of 3.3 percent, followed by a 10.1 percent rise in January 2024, a substantial 20.2 percent increase in February, and a 3.3 percent uptick in March 2024, and in April, it showed growth of 0.37 percent.

Compared to April 2024’s exports of $1.237 billion, May sales increased by 25.9 percent.

In May 2024, bedwear exports increased by 37.67 percent to $277.4 million, towels by 18.18 percent to $103.4 million, readymade garments by 31 percent to $350.6 million and knitwear exports increased by 24.3 percent to $413.4 million compared to the exports of the same month of last year. Conversely, cotton yarn exports fell by 36 percent to $64.27 million and cotton cloth reduced by one percent to $173 million.

Rice exports, including Basmati, increased by 92.3 percent to $345.4 million. Basmati rice exports rose by 12 percent to $74.77 million, while other varieties surged by 140 percent to $270.7 million. From July 2023 to May 2024, total rice exports jumped by 81.2 percent to $3.63 billion from $2.0 billion the previous year, with Basmati exports up 31.5 percent to $774 million and other rice varieties up 102 percent to $2.85 billion

Vegetable exports in May 2024 increased by 77.5 percent to $38.65 million and fruits also up by 33 percent to $20.4 million, meat and meat preparations by 8.5 percent to $44.5 million. However, fish preparation exports were down by 26.7 percent to $37 million over the same month of last year.

Additionally, football exports in May increased by 16.3 percent to $24.77 million, plastic materials by 10.2 percent to $38.6 million, and engineering goods by 36.6 percent to $35.8 million, and footwear exports also increased by 15.5 percent to $14.2 million.

Pharmaceutical products’ exports were up by 60.1 percent to $38.5 million, Cement by 78.2 percent to $32.25 million, and leather manufacturing exports up by 11.2 percent to $43.6 million. Similarly, surgical goods exports also increased by 33 percent to $41.2 million over exports in May 2023.

IMPORTS

The PBS reported that total imports in the petroleum group surged by 12.1 percent to $1.58 billion in May 2024 compared to May 2023.

Petroleum product imports increased by 12.9 percent to $676.4 million, crude oil by 29.9 percent to $500 million and LPG imports rose by 22.5 percent to $77.2 million, however, LNG imports fell by 10.1 percent to $324.4 million.

During July-May of FY24, total imports in the petroleum group decreased by 0.28 percent to $15.34 billion compared to $15.38 billion in the same period of FY23. Notably, imports of petroleum products were reduced by 11.7 percent to $5.96 billion, while crude oil imports increased by 12.1 percent to $5.07 billion. LNG imports also increased by 3.04 percent to $3.577 billion, and LPG imports also saw a rise of 14.8 percent to $734.3 million.

During the month under review, machinery imports surged by 54.7 percent to $849 million. Within this category, imports of telecom machinery and other apparatus witnessed a substantial increase of 163 percent to $213 million, largely due to a surge in mobile set imports. Pakistanis imported mobile sets of $158.8 million in one month which was over 268 percent more than what was imported in the same month of the previous year.

In July-May of FY24, the import of mobile sets accounted for $1.62 billion, reflecting a significant increase of 214 percent compared to the previous year’s imports of $516.5 million.

Moreover, in the machinery group, agriculture machinery imports increased by 397 percent to $12.52 million, and electrical machinery and apparatus by 100 percent to $368.8 million, construction and mining machinery imports up by 54 percent to $13.8 million, power generation machinery imports also increased by 8.6 percent to $42 million. Conversely, textile machinery imports were down by 6.04 percent to $14.33 million.

In the transport sector, total imports in May 2024 also increased by 143 percent to $180.1 million compared to $74 million in May 2023. Imports of completely built units (CBU) of buses, trucks, and other heavy vehicles saw an increase of 445 percent to $40 million. Imports of motor car units increased significantly by 420 percent to $27.6 million compared to the same month last year.

Imports of completely knocked down (CKD)/semi-knocked down (SKD) models of cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, and other heavy vehicles increased by 120.8 percent to $99.6 million in May 2024. Within this category, motorcar imports increased by 156.4 percent to $77.8 million, and motorcycle imports increased by 28.3 percent to $2.44 million. Parts and accessories imports were also increased by 23 percent to $18.3 million.