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State of Textile & Clothing Exports from Pakistan
Dr. Tanveer Hussain,
Dean Faculty of Engineering & Technology, National Textile
University Faisalabad Pakistan.
[email protected]
According to International Trade Center statistics, the global
textile and clothing trade,
comprising all kind of textile fibers, was around US$733.3
billion in 2012. Pakistans total textile
and clothing exports stood at US$12.9 billion with just 1.76%
share in the total global textile
and clothing trade (Table 1). Pakistans highest trade share
(7.88%) was in the category of
cotton fiber, yarn and woven fabrics, whereas the second
highest-share category was made-ups
including home textiles. If we look at the figures in Table 1,
the largest markets are those of knit
and non-knit/woven apparels and their accessories in which
Pakistans share is just 0.95% and
0.87% respectively. These are the areas where Pakistan really
needs to focus more to increase
her share in the global textile and clothing trade.
Table 1 Pakistans share in global textile and clothing trade
No. Category World Pakistan Pak %
1 Silk fiber products 3,143,424 686 0.02
2 Wool Fiber products 14,311,306 12,202 0.09
3 Cotton fiber, yarn and woven fabrics 66,279,625 5,225,692
7.88
4 Veg. Fiber (excl. cotton) yarn, fabrics 3,760,447 5,629
0.15
5 Manmade filament products 45,581,281 34,126 0.07
6 Manmade staple fiber products 36,947,101 449,180 1.227
Nonwovens, waddings, felts, chords 21,994,542 11,072 0.05
8 Carpets & Floorcoverings 14,369,555 121,381 0.84
9 Special woven & tufted 12,432,921 25,960 0.21
10 Coated & Laminated Textiles 24,219,223 13,282 0.05
11 Knitted Fabrics 29,999,926 36,084 0.12
12 Apparel & Accessories (knits) 211,269,304 2,006,288
0.95
13 Apparel & Accessories (non-knits) 193,872,398 1,694,385
0.87
14 Made ups including home-textiles 55,129,619 3,285,312
5.96
Total 733,310,672* 12,921,279* 1.76
*Figures are in US$, Thousands
Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton, currently
contributing 2.1 million tons in the
annual total world cotton production of 24 million tons.
Although Pakistans share in raw cotton
production is 8.75% in the world, her share in cotton-based
end-products is less than 3%. It is
imperative for Pakistan to focus more on higher valued-added
cotton products rather than
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exporting lower-value products. Total world market of
cotton-based yarn, fabric and apparel
end-products is about US$229.3 billion dollars in which
Pakistans share is about US$6.8 billion.
Pakistani textile industry consumes more cotton annually than
the countrys total production,
so it has to rely on foreign cotton imports. Moreover the local
raw cotton lacks the fiber
fineness and staple length as is desirable for producing finer
quality yarns and end products.That also necessitates the foreign
import of raw cotton. Pakistan imported around 242,697 tons
of raw cotton and exported 222,065 tons in 2012. There is need
for not only increasing the
cotton yield per acre of land but also the production of finer
and longer-staple cotton through
appropriate research and development.
Out of the US$14.7 billion market of cotton and
cotton-containing blended yarns, Pakistan
exported yarn worth around US$2.13 billion in 2012, capturing a
share of about 14.5% in the
global cotton-based yarn market. Although, it seems to be a good
share but it would have been
far better if Pakistan had converted most of this yarn into
fabric and apparel for exports instead
of exporting it as such in the yarn form. Most of the cotton
yarn exported from Pakistan was of
coarser count (8-24 Ne), for which the countrys raw cotton is
mostly suitable. However, those
who must export yarn should focus more on the production of
finer counts (24-48Ne) and
combed yarns which could fetch more foreign exchange for their
companies and the country.
Total world market for cotton and its blended woven fabrics
stood at US$29.9 billion in 2012, in
which Pakistans share was 8.7% with exports of worth US$2.6
billion. Out of the US$2.6 billion
exports, the contribution of unbleached fabric was over US$1
billion (see Table 2). It will be
better for Pakistans economy if Pakistan increases its share in
the dyed and printed woven
fabrics instead of exporting the unbleached or just bleached
fabrics. It will be even better if the
dyed or printed fabrics are exported after conversion into
garments or made-up articles.
Table 2 Pakistans share in the global export of woven cotton
fabrics
Product Category World 2012 Pak Pak%
Unbleached cotton woven fabric 5,816,747 1,018,555 17.51
Bleached cotton woven fabric 2,160,778 251,061 11.62
Solid dyed cotton woven fabric 7,813,446 467,129 5.98
Yarn dyed cotton woven fabric 4,281,063 5,719 0.13
Printed cotton woven fabric 5,124,538 344,487 6.72
Denim fabric 4,681,829 513,220 10.96
Total 29,878,401* 2,600,171* 8.703*Figures are in US$,
Thousands
More than US$83.3 billion worth of woven cotton apparels were
traded worldwide in 2012.
Pakistan exported around US$1.3 billion worth of woven cotton
apparel, getting a share of
almost 1.6% from the global market. Worldwide cotton knitted
apparel trade crossed US$101
billion figure in which Pakistans share was just 0.8% . Being
the fourth largest cotton producer
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in the world, it should be a matter of deep concern for Pakistan
to have such a low share in
woven and knitted cotton apparels. It is imperative for the
policy makers of Pakistan to
incentivize the export of value-added textile and clothing
products and discourage the export of
lower-end products.
Citation of this article: Tanveer Hussain, State of Textile and
Clothing Exports from Pakistan,TEXtalks July/August 2013, pp:62-65
(Journal)
