ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: In view of country’s declining exports, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) is likely to prepare a ‘country-specific strategy’ for each product for an effective international marketing.

Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday that official planners have proposed formulation of such a strategy and also want the TDAP to help private firms in their endeavours to build image and brand name.

They believe that aggressive marketing of textile products in the global market was essential for promotion of this sector.

The image of Pakistan as supplier of quality products could be promoted through regular participation in international product exhibitions and trade fairs.

Single-country fairs, road-shows and exhibitions should also be arranged to promote Pakistani products.

The government was advised to effectively discourage low value-added textile products being exported currently by increasing exporting high value-added products whose share is rising in global trade.

The higher share (54 per cent) of blended fabrics, with more than 85 per cent cotton, is exported without any processing, thus fetching low unit price.

To capture a greater share in the rapidly expanding global market for higher value-added textile products, the textile industry must move up the value chain and increase the share of high value-added garments and made-ups in its export portfolio.

“The most promising area for employment generation in textile sector is the apparel industry with global market and rising annual share. The exports can be maximised by moving up to the value chair, both within and across all the sub-processes of the textile sector,” said the draft of National Employment Policy,” presented to the government for approval. It was prepared by the Policy Planning Wing of the Labour and Manpower Division.

The draft said the growing number of new styles and collections is reducing the product life-cycle and time from design to deliver.

Skill shortage, specially in apparel designing and stitching, has hampered growth of the sector to exploit its potential.

The quality of fashion garments and accessories need to be high to compete globally. For that fabric has to be of good quality.

The value chain analysis shows that low quality is introduced in every process and we cannot give single one main reason. Starting from picking and storage, contamination is introduced in cotton due to non-standardised methods. The low count yarn produced by the spinning industry and fabric produced on power looms by low-skilled machine operators are the other causes of low quality. The design of fabric does the rest.

According to the recommendations, the apparel industry needs to improve quality, move up to the value chain, lay technological foundation, and strengthen global business operations to generate more employment opportunities as well as becoming a global player. Emphasis should be placed on the promotion of value added products, especially in new design and products.

To facilitate transformation of the textile sector into a strong, dynamic and internationally competitive industry, the government was recommended to facilitate the industry to attain and sustain a dominant position in the made-up garments.

Similarly, it called for revitalising the institutional structure to strengthen skills and capabilities of human resources and enabling the industry to move into a higher technological orbits and encourage active public-private partnership.

It believed that the apparel sector would benefit more than other segments of the textile industry from foreign investment.

Joint ventures with foreign apparel manufacturers would put the industry in the international supply chain, being the new technology and even help in introducing Pakistani brands in the global markets. The TDAP and the Board of Investment (BoI) and the textile machinery can play an effective role in encouraging joint ventures in the textile sector.

The rapid promotion of textile sector needs a coordinated infrastructure of policy, plans and programmes.

The implementation of such polices and programme will be more effective if most of the industry is located with a specific geographical area.

The textile sector consists of a large number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and these clusters are mostly located in Faisalabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Declaring them textile cities would help bring necessary infrastructure, both physical and human, and facilitate implementation of policies.

The clusters are important to provide cost-effective solution to deliver targeted technical assistance for upgrading technology, management and marketing.

Many SMEs lack modern design and production capabilities. To facilitate such enterprises, there is need to establish CFCs in the proposed textile cities.

By providing essential machining facilities and other common services, these centres would help gain greater competitive strength and developing collective efficiencies.

It was proposed that informal sector should be supported through formation of cooperatives -- Common Manufacturing Facilities(CMFs) -- with multiple ownerships. Such cooperatives could be provided with easier access to credit, technical and marketing support services.