During the outgoing fiscal year FY23, Pakistan’s exports of textiles and clothing faced a significant decline of 14.63% year-on-year, reaching $16.50 billion.
This decrease was attributed to factors such as higher production costs, liquidity constraints, and reduced global demand. In June, exports witnessed a year-on-year decline of 13.73% to $1.47 billion.As a result of the textile and clothing export contraction, Pakistan’s total merchandise exports dropped by 12.71% year-on-year to $27.54 billion in FY23, down from $31.78 billion in the previous fiscal year.
The textile export sector experienced negative growth throughout the current fiscal year, except for a slight increase in August 2022 due to a backlog from the previous month. Specifically, the PBS data showed that exports of readymade garments shrank by 10.57% in value but grew by 39.27% in quantity, while knitwear dipped by 13.36% in value but grew by 9.81% in quantity.
Bedwear posted a negative growth of 18.26% in value and 21.10% in quantity.Additionally, towel exports slightly decreased by 10.05% in value and 11.20% in quantity, and cotton cloth exports dipped by 17.06% in value and 23.86% in quantity.
Imports of textile machinery declined by 57.03% in FY23, indicating that expansion or modernization projects were not a priority during this period.Moreover, imports of the petroleum group saw a significant dip of 27.03% year-on-year in FY23, attributed to an economic slowdown that curtailed consumption amid unprecedented inflation.
Imports of petroleum products declined by 36.80% in value and 38.82% in quantity during FY23.Imports of machinery also saw a steep decline of 46.82% to $5.80 billion in FY23 from $10.92 billion in FY22, mainly due to a 64.35% dip in arrivals of telecom equipment, including mobile phones.