Textile exports rise to record $12.48bn

KARACHI: The textile exports surged by 34.20 percent to a record level of $12.488 billion during July-May 2010/11 against $9.305 billion during the corresponding period last year, the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) revealed on Tuesday.

The total exports of textile products stood at $10.244 billion in FY10, which was increased from $9.572 billion a year ago, according to the FBS.

Analysts have attributed the significant rise in textile exports in the current fiscal year to higher commodities prices in the international market.

“Cotton prices were at record high during the year, which helped Pakistan fetch better prices against its exports,” said Khurram Shahzad, Head of Research at InvestCap.

The analysts said that the exports were increased in only value terms because of high cotton and finished goods prices due to shortage in the international market.

During the fiscal year, the cotton producing countries faced serious problems such as floods in Brazil and export ban on cotton yarn by India.

Experts said that the current pace of textile exports depends on the global cotton estimates for the next year.

The flash floods early this fiscal year also lowered the cotton output estimates for the current fiscal year from 14 million bales to 11.7 million bales, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a recently issued report.

Despite fall in the cotton output in the country, the raw materials exports went up by 68 percent to $326.78 million from $194.43 million. However, this export is mainly due to higher prices in the international market because the exported quantity fell by 17.08 percent.

The analysts also attributed the rise in exports to higher demand for Pakistan’s finished and semi-finished products in the European Union (EU) and the United States economies after facing recession period during the last two years.

Textile exports shared around 55.72 percent in the country’s total exports of $22.411 billion during July-May 2010/11.

The central bank in its report said that the current trend of textile exports would help the country have record exports in FY11.

The major components that helped the textile exports to grow significantly included cotton yarn, cotton cloth, knitwear, bedwear and readymade garments.

The cotton yarn and cotton cloth exports went up by 54.12 percent and 40.59 percent to $2.02 billion and $2.31 billion, from the previous figures of $1.31 billion and $1.648 billion, respectively.

Similarly, knitwear, bedwear and readymade garments posted exports growth of 30.04 percent, 18.57 percent and 50.9 percent, respectively.

The country eyes $25 billion exports for the current fiscal year after response from significant growth in exports of textile-related products. The government with the start of FY11 set the estimated target of exports of $21.5 billion.