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State of Textile & Clothing Exports from Pakistan

Dr. Tanveer Hussain, Dean Faculty of Engineering & Technology, National Textile University Faisalabad Pakistan.

hussain.tanveer@gmail.com According to International Trade Center statistics, the global textile and clothing trade, comprising all kind of textile fibers, was around US$733.3 billion in 2012. Pakistans total textile and clothing exports stood at US$12.9 billion with just 1.76% share in the total global textile and clothing trade (Table 1). Pakistans highest trade share (7.88%) was in the category of cotton fiber, yarn and woven fabrics, whereas the second highest-share category was made-ups including home textiles. If we look at the figures in Table 1, the largest markets are those of knit and non-knit/woven apparels and their accessories in which Pakistans share is just 0.95% and 0.87% respectively. These are the areas where Pakistan really needs to focus more to increase her share in the global textile and clothing trade. Table 1 Pakistans share in global textile and clothing trade No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Total Category Silk fiber products Wool Fiber products Cotton fiber, yarn and woven fabrics Veg. Fiber (excl. cotton) yarn, fabrics Manmade filament products Manmade staple fiber products Nonwovens, waddings, felts, chords Carpets & Floorcoverings Special woven & tufted Coated & Laminated Textiles Knitted Fabrics Apparel & Accessories (knits) Apparel & Accessories (non-knits) Made ups including home-textiles World 3,143,424 14,311,306 66,279,625 3,760,447 45,581,281 36,947,101 21,994,542 14,369,555 12,432,921 24,219,223 29,999,926 211,269,304 193,872,398 55,129,619 733,310,672* *Figures are in US$, Thousands Pakistan 686 12,202 5,225,692 5,629 34,126 449,180 11,072 121,381 25,960 13,282 36,084 2,006,288 1,694,385 3,285,312 12,921,279* Pak % 0.02 0.09 7.88 0.15 0.07 1.22 0.05 0.84 0.21 0.05 0.12 0.95 0.87 5.96 1.76

Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton, currently contributing 2.1 million tons in the annual total world cotton production of 24 million tons. Although Pakistans share in raw cotton production is 8.75% in the world, her share in cotton-based end-products is less than 3%. It is imperative for Pakistan to focus more on higher valued-added cotton products rather than

exporting lower-value products. Total world market of cotton-based yarn, fabric and apparel end-products is about US$229.3 billion dollars in which Pakistans share is about US$6.8 billion. Pakistani textile industry consumes more cotton annually than the countrys total production, so it has to rely on foreign cotton imports. Moreover the local raw cotton lacks the fiber fineness and staple length as is desirable for producing finer quality yarns and end products. That also necessitates the foreign import of raw cotton. Pakistan imported around 242,697 tons of raw cotton and exported 222,065 tons in 2012. There is need for not only increasing the cotton yield per acre of land but also the production of finer and longer-staple cotton through appropriate research and development. Out of the US$14.7 billion market of cotton and cotton-containing blended yarns, Pakistan exported yarn worth around US$2.13 billion in 2012, capturing a share of about 14.5% in the global cotton-based yarn market. Although, it seems to be a good share but it would have been far better if Pakistan had converted most of this yarn into fabric and apparel for exports instead of exporting it as such in the yarn form. Most of the cotton yarn exported from Pakistan was of coarser count (8-24 Ne), for which the countrys raw cotton is mostly suitable. However, those who must export yarn should focus more on the production of finer counts (24-48Ne) and combed yarns which could fetch more foreign exchange for their companies and the country. Total world market for cotton and its blended woven fabrics stood at US$29.9 billion in 2012, in which Pakistans share was 8.7% with exports of worth US$2.6 billion. Out of the US$2.6 billion exports, the contribution of unbleached fabric was over US$1 billion (see Table 2). It will be better for Pakistans economy if Pakistan increases its share in the dyed and printed woven fabrics instead of exporting the unbleached or just bleached fabrics. It will be even better if the dyed or printed fabrics are exported after conversion into garments or made-up articles. Table 2 Pakistans share in the global export of woven cotton fabrics Product Category World 2012 Pak Unbleached cotton woven fabric 5,816,747 1,018,555 Bleached cotton woven fabric 2,160,778 251,061 Solid dyed cotton woven fabric 7,813,446 467,129 Yarn dyed cotton woven fabric 4,281,063 5,719 Printed cotton woven fabric 5,124,538 344,487 Denim fabric 4,681,829 513,220 Total 29,878,401* 2,600,171* *Figures are in US$, Thousands Pak% 17.51 11.62 5.98 0.13 6.72 10.96 8.703

More than US$83.3 billion worth of woven cotton apparels were traded worldwide in 2012. Pakistan exported around US$1.3 billion worth of woven cotton apparel, getting a share of almost 1.6% from the global market. Worldwide cotton knitted apparel trade crossed US$101 billion figure in which Pakistans share was just 0.8%. Being the fourth largest cotton producer

in the world, it should be a matter of deep concern for Pakistan to have such a low share in woven and knitted cotton apparels. It is imperative for the policy makers of Pakistan to incentivize the export of value-added textile and clothing products and discourage the export of lower-end products. Citation of this article: Tanveer Hussain, State of Textile and Clothing Exports from Pakistan, TEXtalks July/August 2013, pp:62-65 (Journal)

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