Pakistan’s textile exports declined for the third month in a row in December, falling 16.47 percent to $1.356 billion from $1.62 billion in the same month last year, the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed.
This is the third month that textile exports declined sharply due to the government’s policies, including limiting imports by not opening credit letters, costly energy, expensive bank financing, shortage of dollars in the economy, and rupee devaluation.
The export number during 1HFY23 plummeted by 7% YoY to $8.7bn against $9.4bn in the corresponding period last year.
In 1HFY23, exports mainly declined in cotton yarn, yarn other than cotton yarn, and bedwear which is 37%, 20%, and 14% YoY, respectively.
In December 2022 alone, the major decline is witnessed in yarn other than the cotton yarn segment which decreased by 31.15% MoM, to $3.25mn, tents, canvas & tarpaulin by 27.09% MoM to $10.32mn, and knitwear by 11.63% MoM to $353.67mn.
Similarly, the towels segment also depicted a decline of 11.29% MoM to $82.19mn.
On yearly basis, cotton yarn, yarn other than cotton yarn, art, silk & synthetic textile, tents, canvas & tarpaulin, and knitwear decreased by 49.92%, 37.44%, 26.06%, 26.04%, and 19.54% YoY respectively.
Going by the data, food exports from the country in December 2022 stood at around $398.53mn decline of 25.31% YoY, and 8.25% MoM from $533.56mn in December 2021 and $434.34mn in November 2022, respectively.
Commodity-wise, the export of tobacco, oil seeds, nuts and kernals, and fish & fish preparations witnessed a decline of 49.40% MoM, 41.02% MoM, and 23.42% MoM to clock in at $3.26mn, $10.62mn, and $39.21mn in December 2022, respectively.
On yearly basis, tobacco showed a decrease of 71.68%, oil seeds, nuts, and kernals by 58.79%, vegetables by 53.41%, and rice by 25.71% during the review period.
Meanwhile, the export of petroleum products increased by 52.72% YoY to $43.91mn in December 2022. It was mainly led by exports of petroleum crude, which rose by 68.39% YoY.
On the other hand, petroleum products (excl. Top Naphta) exports plummeted by 69.21 YoY to stand at $1mn.
Going into details made available by PBS, the other manufacturer’s group observed a 3.73% YoY decrease in exports during December 2022 to $313.67mn. Under this group, the trade value of leather tanned stood at $12.38mn, decreased by 27.85% YoY.
Similarly, the carpets, rugs & mats export down by 23.27% YoY to $5.24mn as compared to $6.83mn in the same period last year.
