Pakistan’s Textile Exports Decrease by 12% in January 2023

The country’s textile group exports declined to $1.36 billion in January as compared to $1.55 billion during the same period last year. The data on textile exports released by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) revealed that the country’s textile group exports witnessed a decline of 12 percent in January 2023 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis and stood at $1.36 billion when compared to $1.55 billion during the same month of last year.   On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the textile group maintained last month’s negative growth as it also reported exports of $1.36 billion in December 2022, but the rate of decline has reduced by 4 percentage points during the period. In the first seven (July-January) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2022-23, textile exports declined by 8 percent YoY and stood at $10.08 billion as compared to $10.93 billion during the same period last year. The exports in December 2022 stood at $1.36 billion as compared to $1.42 billion in November 2022 showing a decrease of 16 percent as compared to $1.62 billion in December of FY22. Textile exports are estimated to observe an extended period of decline this year after textile owners earlier this month threatened a strike over the non-clearance of imported cotton containers at Karachi Port. In the worst case, the industry will likely fall short of its $25 billion export target this year due to a lack of raw materials, primarily raw cotton. Textile exports will be limited to $16 billion or $17 billion this year.