14
ISLAMABAD: Exports of textile and clothing declined by 8.40 per cent to $5.233 billion in the first five months (July-November) of 2015-16 from $5.713bn in the same period last year, suggested Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data on Monday.
Citing energy as the most binding constraint, the State Bank of Pakistan’s annual report for 2014-15 said that factors like rupee appreciation, recession in advance economies and snags in tax mechanism have put domestic exporters in a tight spot.
“Pakistan’s inability to export to its potential mainly reflects impediments at structural, institutional and entrepreneurial levels that never really allow exports to hold ground,” added the report.
Also read: Cloud looms over textile exports
Product-wise details showed that export of textile and clothing products across the board witnessed a negative growth except value-added garments and towels, which witnessed growth during the period.
Export of low value-added products, such as cotton yarn dipped by 28.09pc; yarn other than cotton down by 24.4pc; and cotton carded declined by 97.94pc.
Cotton cloth exports fell by 9.88pc; art, silk dropped by 21.88pc; tents, canvas by 45.36pc and made-up articles excluding towels by 0.43pc. Raw cotton export also declined by 29.52pc.
Export of readymade garments was up by 3.59pc. However, knitwear exports fell by 2.26pc in July-November 2015-16. Towels export also increased by 6.14pc. While exports of bedwear dipped by 7.36pc.
Total exports witnessed a decline of 13.88pc to $8.534bn during the period under review from $9.909bn.
OIL AND FOODSTUFFS: Import bill of these two products plunged by 31.61pc to $5.812bn in July-November 2015-16 from $8.498bn in the same period last year.
The total import bill declined by 9.40pc to $18.402bn from $20.311bn.
Imports of food products fell by 6.96pc to $2.218bn from $2.384bn in July-Nov 2014-15, mainly due to zero imports of wheat and palm oil during the period. Oil imports declined by 41.22pc to $3.594bn from $6.114bn. Imports of crude oil was down by 44.35pc, while imports of petroleum products fell by 39.38pc.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2015
