ISLAMABAD: Textile and clothing exports increased four percent year-on-year to $6.90 billion despite several cash incentives, half-year data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The July-December figures showed growth in textile and clothing exports emanated from the value-added sector. The improvement in the value-added sector helped increase overall exports by 3.14pc to $11.53bn on a year-on-year basis.

In December, textile and clothing export proceeds were recorded at $1.14bn, up by 0.36pc, from $1.13bn over the corresponding month last year.

Product-wise details reveal exports of knitwear increased by 7.59pc in value and 5.66pc in quantity, followed by 3.16pc and 11.69pc in bedwear respectively. Foreign sales of readymade garments rose by 12.08pc in value and 32.37pc in volume while proceeds from towels only inched up by a modest 0.22pc in value and 1.92pc in quantity.

Moreover, export of cotton yarn dipped 0.74pc, followed by cotton cloth 3.7pc, yarn other than cotton 1.67pc, and cotton carded 72.22pc while that of raw cotton up by 9.06pc and art and silk 13.22pc, respectively.

Oil imports

Meanwhile, import bill of petroleum group dipped 19.87pc to $6.14bn during the first half year, with crude oil posting largest drop of 14.5pc in total quantity to 3.94 million tonnes.

The cost of petroleum products plunged 24.13pc during the period with 12.63pc decline recorded in terms of quantity imported, bringing the total down to 4.66m tonnes.

Liquefied natural gas imports were down 4.83pc while those of liquefied petroleum gas surged 33.85pc.

Machinery imports decreased 1.03pc to $4.43bn, from $4.47bn last year, led by office machinery, down 14.48pc, power generating 1.73pc, textile 8.34pc and construction 36.71pc.

Contrary to this, imports of telecom, mobile handsets soared 69.25pc to $616.148m while those of other apparatus plunged by 21.71pc to $228.509m. The increase in former was result of crackdown on smuggling and doing away with free imports in baggage schemes.

Similarly, import of electrical machinery jumped by 48.16pc to $1.305bn on a yearly basis. On the other hand, import of machineries related to agriculture, textile, construction among others declined.

The overall transport group also witnessed a decrease of 44.45pc as imports of motor vehicle – completely built units – were declined by a massive 73.96pc during July-December.

Meanwhile, food group imports fell by 13.48pc during July-December mainly due to imposition of regulatory duties on proceeds. The decline was noted in imports of milk product, wheat, dry fruits, tea, soybean oil, palm oil, sugar, and pulses. On the flip side, import of spices increased by 5.49pc.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020