ISLAMABAD, May 13: Exports of other manufactures and primary commodities group during the month of April 2004 suffered a sharp decline of 10.97 per cent and 13.72 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year.

That the performance of exports tapered off during the 10th month of 2003-04 is further highlighted by the fact that the two groups with combined contribution of $214.36 million (19.56pc) to overall exports ($1,095.81 million) also decreased by 19.03pc (other manufactures) and 17.52pc (primary commodities), as compared to the previous month (March 2004).

As regards the textiles manufactures, these with total exports of $685.19 million moved up by only 2.10pc against April 2003. But when compared to previous month, these too betray stagnation by showing a negative growth of one per cent.

The overall improvement in exports is thus attributable only to the other manufactures. The exports of these miscellaneous items amounted to $196.26 million - 17.91pc of the total exports. As compared to April 2003, these registered a growth of 167.74pc and of 179.46pc over March 2004.

Likewise, the 13.05pc increase in exports ($10,001 million) during the period July-April 2003-04 is attributable mainly to the performance of the preceding nine months and other manufactures during April 2004.

Taking primary commodities group first, its major constituent is rice, the exports of which dropped during April 2004, and its export receipts ($46.76 million) decreased by 12.42pc as against the corresponding period last year.

Fish and fisheries, another major export in this group, fell by 15.70pc in value ($6.24 million). On the positive side, however, raw cotton emerges as the second highest source of foreign exchange after rice with exports worth $14.32 million - 206.03pc more than the corresponding period.

In the textiles manufactures group, which constituted 62.53pc of overall exports, only cotton yarn, cotton cloth and knitwear among major categories showed impressive growth in value of 43.70pc, 27.45pc and 12.55pc, respectively.

But other five major categories declined as against April 2003 as follows: Bedwear $128.88 million) by 6.16pc; towels ($35.67 million) by 18.78pc; tents, canvas and tarpaulin ($5.39 million) by 38.64pc; readymade garments ($91.10 million) (by 5.51pc; and Art silk and synthetic textiles ($20.70 million) by 67.28pc.

In the group "other manufactures", the month of April 2004 saw sharp drop in export receipts of most of the major categories as compared to corresponding period as follows: Sports goods ($28.60 million) by 22.21pc; tanned leather ($16.32 million) by 10.96pc; footwear ($4.21 million) by 27.12pc; surgical goods and medical equipment ($6.70 million) by 55.59pc; cutlery ($0.58 million) by 76.56pc); chemicals and pharmaceutical products ($8.54 million) by 46.23pc; engineering goods ($4.79 million) by 27.00pc.

In this group, the categories which showed improved performance included carpets, rags and mats ($19.75 million) and leather manufactures ($29.94 million). These were up by 72.41pc and 10.67pc, respectively