Web Desk
Immense performance pressure on the government as Pakistan’s textile exports have seen a significant hit with a 12.4% decrease in January as compared to the previous month. The situation has become worse since October 2022, when exports first started to decline significantly.
The Pakistani government is facing pressure due to the dramatic decline of textile exports for the fourth consecutive month. According to the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), the value of exports in January 2023 has dropped by 12.4%, down from $1.55 billion in January 2022 to $1.36 billion.
Although hopes of a recovery, exports in December 2022 continued to underperform compared to the previous year. December 2022 was an export disaster for the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif; exports dropped a staggering 16% from $1.42 billion to $1.36 billion.
Even more concerning is that seven-month (Jan to July 2023)overall figures were down by 7.8% from $10.08 billion to $10.93 billion last year, contributing to growing pressure on Pakistan’s economy.
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The industry is facing several challenges in terms of production, including limited access to raw materials especially cotton yarns due to shortages across the country. The production at this time is 5 billion bales while the requirement is up to 9 million bales. Additionally, many factories are being forced to resort to other sources at higher costs due to the global rise of oil prices, which has resulted in inflated prices for imported inputs used in the manufacturing process.
With its monthly exports facing the risk of a dramatic crash, in December 2022 APTMA wrote a letter to the government warning that exports can go down to even below 1 billion dollars if proper measures will not be implemented. Survival is becoming tough as our country is struggling to keep its industry running at half capacity.
