KARACHI: Pakistan’s textile exports have clocked in at $1.34 billion (Rs205 billion) in April 2021, down by 1.3 per cent in USD terms and 3.2 per cent in PKR terms on a month-on-month basis.
In April 2021, the exports went up 231.2pc on a year-on-year basis; however, this growth is misleading due to the worldwide lockdown of economies last year amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Pakistan also remained under strict lockdown for 15 days in April last year.
Knitwear exports increased by 10 per cent MoM in April this year, while readymade garments’ exports declined 5.1 per cent MoM. Interestingly, the quantity of Knitwear exported declined by 0.7pc MoM whereas the quantity of readymade garments increased by 11.1pc MoM.
Within basic textiles, export of cotton yarn and cotton cloth declined by 10.3pc MoM and 11.7pc MoM, mainly due to a decline in quantity that’s exported, respectively
During the first 10-months of Financial Year 2020-21, textile exports have increased by 17.4% YoY to $12.69 billion (up 20.6pc YoY in PKR) as Pakistan continues to receive export orders from global economies amid lockdowns in competing countries, like India, Bangladesh, due to coronavirus.
Pakistan is set to achieve textile exports of $15.4 billion in the fiscal year 2020-21, which will be the highest in the country’s history.