Fall in Textile Exports of Pakistan

In 2020 materials were the world’s seventh most exchanged item, with a complete exchange of $774B. Exchange Materials address 4.62% of absolute world exchange. Indeed, even in the period of slow world monetary development send out market has forever been area of chances and material is one of the deep rooted businesses in the cutthroat commercial center. Material and attire sends out are urgent to help market seriousness and expansion, to reinforce neighborhood and public economy and to acquire worldwide market strength.

As the remainder of the world is moving consistently towards more orderly, inventive, comprehensive and supportable development we as a nation have chosen to keep on disregarding world bank’s recommendation by and large and some way or another figured out how to make our financial climate more unfriendly for organizations than any time in recent memory. We have pushed our exporters in the profound waters with their options limited and without a raft or life coat in sight.

The material and attire industry is the foundation of Pakistan’s economy and Pakistan’s job as one of the world’s driving cotton makers has given the premise to the material and apparel industry’s turn of events. The materials and dress industry has become the single biggest assembling area in Pakistan. The area utilizes more than 38% of the assembling workforce. More than US$5 billion of material and article of clothing hardware has been imported in Pakistan over the most recent couple of years. The material business is today based as a rule in the confidential area.

Pakistan has traded material items worth $19.33 billion during the financial year 2021 making a record high on yearly premise. The nation traded material items worth $19.33 billion during monetary year 2021 appearance an increment of 25.53 percent when contrasted and $15.4 billion in the former financial year, as per information delivered by Pakistan Department of Measurements (PBS). Bounce back in commodities of material since last year was the result of a progression of motivating forces to help exporters to address the difficulties following Coronavirus and disturbance in provisions. Besides, the public authority’s choice to keep organizations open during lockdown gave a potential chance to get orders redirected from economies under severe lockdown. The material product information throughout the previous five years showed that volumetric material commodities are the essential driver with a twofold digit increment esteem added things.

Nonetheless, the nation’s commodities of product entered a negative development in July 2022 following 22 months when the economy recuperated from the effect of Coronavirus. The product continues fell 5.17 percent to $2.21 billion in the principal month of the ongoing monetary year from $2.34bn in the relating month last year as per information by Pakistan Department of Measurements. On a month-on-month premise, the product continues tumbled by 23.95pc demonstrating a descending pattern in the commodity area and similarly as the increment before the ongoing drop in sends out is totally volumetric.

World Bank’s Pakistan development update 2021 suggests that in order to sustain strong economic growth, Pakistan needs to increase private investment and export more as a key factor driving the trade imbalance is the declining export competitiveness. The share of

exports in GDP has been declining since the turn of the century, from 16 per cent in 1999 to 10pc in 2020.

According to Derek Chen Senior Economist, World Bank. The long-term decline in exports as a share of GDP has implications for the country’s foreign exchange, jobs, and productivity growth. Therefore, confronting core challenges that are necessary for Pakistan to compete in global markets is an imperative for sustainable growth.

In examining the country’s persistent trade imbalance, the report identifies key factors that are hindering exports: high effective import tariff rates, limited availability of long-term financing for firms to expand export capacity, inadequate provision of market intelligence services for exporters, and low productivity of Pakistani firms. This falling export share has implications for foreign exchange, jobs, and productivity growth. At the firm-level, the decline is consistent with low entry rates into exporting, and exporters that struggle to expand over their life cycle. At the economy level, the lack of a sustained robust growth in exports has resulted in little diversification or sophistication gains for the export bundle.

Pakistan is already ranked 108 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. With the increase in working capital levels and interest rate the cost of business has increased to unsustainable levels while the withdrawal of zero- rating sales tax (SRO1125) and the implementation of 17 percent general sales tax on export oriented sector add to the injury. Inefficient tax policies inflate inventory and capital cost as well as encourage the trade volume to increase outside the tax system resulting in an increase in fraud, smuggling and import of clothing.

For a country like Pakistan, going through energy crises, with high costs and scare resources in only makes sense that in order to increase productivity and ensure sustainable supply, the resource allocation should be such that the priority of gas supplied to different sectors of the economy should be such that productive sectors of the economy that add more value to GDP should be given preferential priority as such policy measures enhance exports, boost competitiveness,  encourage job creation and have multiplier effect on value chains. However, Pakistan’s favoring of domestic over industrial consumption is a classic case of prioritizing short term consumer satisfaction over long term economic stability. There is a dire need of pricing policy reforms for the inputs such as fertilizer, gas electricity. The export sector in Punjab is being provided gas at 9$/MMBtu even under Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET) in late 2018 while household basic tariff is $1 and about $2 on average per MMBtu. Similarly, gas prices for fertilizer start from 1$/ MMBtu, signaling a non – transparent and in efficient subsidy to agriculture sector. In addition, some mills who are eligible for EOU power rates since 2019 are still are being denied concessional power tariffs even after cabinet and ECC approval despite a multitudes of meetings, letters and commitments.

Due to the high price of inputs the industry has already purchased raw materials at higher rates, at the same time banks are not clearing import documents due to lack of dollars in the country many mills have imports pending at various stages. As the consequence of delay the businesses are not only incurring exorbitant demurrage and detention charges which the collector customs is refusing to waive but are also rendering textile exports uncompetitive in the process. A significant number of textile mills have also started to shut down due to non-maintenance; a consequence of lack of spare parts.

The issue of raw material clearance from the ports remains unresolved owing to unavailability of forex and therefore mills are currently unable to obtain cash against documentation and are closing down owing to the shortage of raw materials. Many mills are waiting for Technology up gradation funds refunds for almost a decade as result their bank guarantees and liquidity are tied up as a result.

Though textile industry maintains its ranking of the single largest manufacturing sector in Pakistan, unfortunately indigenous manufacturing of its machinery could not develop along with the growth of textile industry. Resultantly, demand for textile machinery still is almost entirely met through global imports. The state bank of Pakistan announced Long Term Finance Facility (LTFF) in 2016 to promote export led industrial growth in the country by providing subsidized financing for setting up of export oriented projects and modernizing plant & machinery. However, SBP has not yet approved the limit for Long term financing facilities forcing the customers to retire their L/C for machineries at prohibitively expensive rates as the mark up allowed may render the projects unfeasible. Textile machinery imports in Pakistan increased from around US$435 Million from 2020 to US$792 Million in 2021 which reflects around 82% increase from the previous year. It was reported at 5,615.000 PKR mn in Oct 2018. This indicates capacity expansion as well as technology upgradation in the Pakistan Textile Industry.

With an investment of such sheer volume Pakistan cannot afford to lose its principal industry, contributing more than 67% to the country’s total export earnings, and accounting for about 46% of total manufacturing, with the capacity for export if fully utilized has the potential to produce export of 26 to 30 billion $ per anum.