Textile exports slump by 9.11% in July-October

Textile exports slump by 9.11% in July-October

By Tanveer Ahmed

KARACHI: The export of textile products decreased by 9.11 percent to $3.233 billion during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2006-07 against $3.558 billion over the corresponding period of last year.

The export of textile products stood at $783.88 million in October 2006, depicting a negative growth of 5.23 percent over $827.17 million in same month of last financial year whereas it declined by 4.95 percent to export figures of 824.72 million of September 2006.

The updated official figures of the foreign trade for the first four months showed that export of almost all major textile products except cotton yarn registered a negative growth, putting a question mark on the efforts of government to enhance the exports of textile sector, which remained on the downward side since the beginning of the this financial year.

Despite a textile package and research & development (R&D) support, the textile exports could not post growth in the said period, which according to textile exporters is still far less to reduce the high cost of production, which is making the country's textile products uncompetitive in the international market, where its competitors China, India and Bangladesh have a competitive edge because of supplying cheap textile products.

The break-up of export of textile products figures suggests that the export raw cotton declined to 10.97 million in July-October period of 2006-07 against $18.78 million in the same period of previous year, depicting a negative growth of 41.58 percent.

The export of cotton cloth, which was in billion dollar export category in the last financial year decreased to $587.97 million in the said period compared to $721.40 million of export in the same period of last financial year, reflecting a decline of 18.50 percent.

The export of knitwear, which also ranked in the billion-dollar export category in financial year 2005-06, recorded a decline of 3.63 percent in the first four months by standing at $640.50 million compared to $664.63 million.

The export of bedwear, which neared to $ 2 billion in the last financial year, also reflected a negative growth in the first four months of 2006-07. The exports of bedwear stood at $583.71 million in the period under review compared to $723.31 million of same period of last year, registering a decline of 19.30 percent.

The export of readymade garments declined by 7.27 per cent by decreasing to $434.68 million compared to $468.75 million of previous year.

The export of towel declined to $185.60 million compared to $201.49 million, depicting a negative growth of 7.93 percent.

The export of made-up articles (excluding towels and bedwear), declined by 28.94 percent and cotton-carded slumped by 4.44 percent.

On the other hand, the export of cotton yarn posted a growth of 12.91 percent in the first four months and stood at $472.83 million compared to $418.77 million and art, silk and synthetic textile exports were up by 10.24 percent and stood at $79.94 million compared to $72.52 million.

In other export categories, food group posted a gain of 4.66 percent in first four months of current financial, mainly because of huge increase in rice export, which surged by 54.12 percent during the period under review.

The export of petroleum group and coal declined by 20.24 percent and manufacturing group other than textile also decreased by 33.75 percent in first four months.