September 22, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 09, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The export of non-textile products rose by 10.39 per cent to $1.073 billion during the first two months (July-Aug) of the current fiscal as against $0.972 billion the same months last year.

Official figures compiled by the federal bureau of statistics (FBS) showed that the increase in the export proceeds during the months under review was due to a hefty growth of more than 15 per cent in export of some traditional commodities mostly rice.Meanwhile, export of Pakistan’s traditional products like engineering goods, pharmaceutical, auto parts, primary products were constantly on decline during the first two months of the current fiscal year.

Analysts attributed the decline in these manufactured products to the ill-advised and improper policies of the government, which were only focused on the promotion of textile products.

Despite the huge subsidies dolled out to the textile sector, the export proceeds from the sector recorded a very marginal growth of 1.18 per cent during the first two months of the current fiscal year over the last year.

They said that the textile tycoons had a say in government policies and they could easily get what they want at the cost of the taxpayers. However, the government remained silent about other sectors, which were near to closing down if no proper steps were taken immediately.

Official figures showed that the export of sport goods (football and gloves) up by 3.01 per cent; carpets, rugs and mats by 6.46 per cent; and surgical goods by 10.72 per cent during the months under review over last year.

The export of engineering goods declined by 11.55 per cent, auto parts 22.94 per cent, leather manufacturers 23.88 per cent, footwear 5.46 per cent, cement 4.74 per cent during the period under review over the last year.

Among the primary commodities, exports of fruits rose by 20.43 per cent, vegetables by 146.21 per cent, tobacco 569.15 per cent, oils seeds 61.86 per cent and meat and meat preparations by 105.85 per cent during the July-August of the current fiscal over the last year.

However, exports of fish products declined by 37.12 per cent, rice 8.08 per cent, spices dipped by 2.68 per cent and all other food items by 59.04 per cent during July-Aug over last year.