October 10, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 13, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: Textile manufactures accounted for 66.65 per cent of total exports ($2967.63 million) during the period July- September 2003, as against 65.50 per cent of the corresponding period of previous year.

According to the Advance Release on external trade statistics issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Thursday, textile manufactures during the period under review stood at $1,977.99 million, a growth of 16.65 per cent over the first quarter of 2002-03.

Highlighting their preponderance in the exports economy, textile manufactures constituted 72.38pc of the exports of manufactured goods ($2732.51 million), further up from the corresponding period of previous year.

The intermediary goods — cotton yarn and cotton cloth — constituted a little over 30pc of textile manufactures. Their aggregate exports amounted to $593.72 million. In spite of 5.77pc increase over the corresponding period, however, the group shows over 3pc decline as a fraction of textile manufactures.

According to the FBS figures, the unit price of almost all the goods in the textile manufactures category continued its upward trend. The only exception were the tents and canvases: While in quantity, their exports went up by 16.45pc, their value improved by only 8.40pc in dollars. But with exports totalling $14.74 million, their share in overall exports receipts is only minor.

Other goods which registered decline in quantity were: cotton yarn, art silk and synthetic textiles and readymade garments. Their exports fell by 15.23pc, 3.03pc and 17.94pc, respectively. Their export receipts amounted to $227.39 million, $145.79 and $267.78 million, respectively.

The goods that showed strident growth, quantity-wise, included: Cotton cloth (2.68pc), knitwear (30.35pc), bedwear (24.78pc) and towels (7.80pc), with export receipts at $366.33 million, $369.24 million, $387.17 million and $92.42 million, up 13.63pc, 34.30pc, 33.36pc and 21.10pc, respectively.

Besides, exports of madeup articles (including other textiles) also surged. Their quantity is not given, but in value ($107.10 million), their foreign exchange earnings were up by 21.19pc.

Nearly 34pc of the exports receipts left after the exports of textile manufactures were shared by Other Manufactures and Others.

OTHER MANUFACTURES: Their exports amounted to $482.97 million, which denoted a decline of 2.47pc from the same period of previous year. Their contribution to overall exports too plummeted to 16.30pc, as compared to 19.17pc of July-September 2002. Further analysis indicates continued stagnation of traditional items. Thus carpets, rugs & mats ($44.94 million) fell by 5.51pc, petroleum crude ($8.99 million) by 53.45pc, sports goods ($66.46 million) by 13.56pc, leather manufactures ($107.56 million) by 5.52pc, surgical goods & medical instruments ($24.89 million) by 27.26pc, cutlery ($6.13 million) by 19.87pc, onyx manufactured ($2.89 million) by 1.86pc.

By contrast, all the three major groups of non-traditional items continued to fare much better. Their share in Other Manufactures is rather tiny. But more important is the fact that their exports earnings are on the ascendant as follows:

Footwear, including leather and canvas, grossed $17.25 million, up 1.88pc from previous year; chemicals and pharmaceutical products (64.82 million) by 8.46pc and engineering goods ($19.90 million) by 21.91pc.

OTHERS: With export receipts worth $271.54 million, the miscellaneous items in this category cumulatively surged by 61.98pc. More impressively, their contribution to overall exports stood at 9.15pc, up nearly 50pc from the corresponding period of previous year.