Textile group exports dip 14pc to $13.7bn YoY

TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The country’s textile group exports declined by around 14.22 per cent during the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained at $13.709 billion as compared to $15.981 billion during the same period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

The data of exports and imports released by the PBS revealed that the country’s textile group exports witnessed a decline of 29.11 per cent in April 2023 on a year-on-year basis and remained at $1.232 billion when compared to $1.739 billion during the same month of last year.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, textile group registered 1.99 per cent negative growth compared to $1.257 billion in March 2023. Cotton yarn exports registered 36.71 per cent negative growth in July-April and remained $636.831 million compared to $1.006 billion during the same period of the last year. On a year-on-year basis, cotton yarn exports registered 34.72 per cent negative growth, while on a MoM basis, it registered 6.35 per cent negative growth.

Rice exports declined by 11.17 per cent during the first ten months of 2022-23 and remained $1.822 billion compared to $2.052 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

The country’s exports during July–April, 2022-2023 totalled $23.181 billion (provisional) against $26.247 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 11.68 per cent. The exports in April 2023 were $2.137 billion (provisional) as compared to $2.372 billion in March 2023 showing a decrease of 9.91 per cent and by 26.23 per cent as compared to $2.897 billion in April, 2022.

Main commodities of exports during April 2023 were knitwear (Rs91,685 million), readymade garments (Rs70,504 million), bedwear (Rs62,129 million), rice others (Rs45,153 million), cotton cloth (Rs41,799 million), towels (Rs22,679 million), rice basmati (Rs18,634 million), cotton yarn (Rs18,165 million), fish and fish preparations (Rs14,547 million), and madeup articles (excluding towels and bedwear) (Rs14,344 million).