For over seven decades Pakistan has been a cotton producing textile dependent economy and yet our competitor has been Bangladesh that produces no cotton and yet its ready-made garment industry outshines ours. Those in Pakistan who believe that our country can take advantage of Bangladesh’s current crisis and seize part of their market need a reality check.
As a story in Dawn demonstrates, Pakistan’s “textile exports posted a decline of 3pc year-over-year and a 10pc fall on a month-over-month basis in July, according to new PBS trade data. The industry’s exports have been dropping for the last two years, stagnating at $16.3bn-$16.6bn.” The reason, is not rising energy costs but rather “the industry has not been able to boost its foreign sales in terms of quantity, in spite of availing large energy subsidies over the last couple of decades.”
A recent study of Pakistan’s textile and clothing industry “found that 70pc of the increase in the dollar value of textile exports was simply due to a rise in global prices. The remaining 30pc came from an increase in the quantity of textile exports on the back of growth in global demand.” The key challenge the industry faces is it has persistently refused “to move to high-value segments, diversify products according to global trends and demand, upgrade technology to become efficient and reduce costs is more to blame for the stagnation in this sector.”
As an editorial in Dawn warns “more than 80pc of Bangladeshi textile exports comprise readymade garments. With the apparel sector constituting just a fifth of Pakistan’s total exports, we do not have the infrastructure or products to replace Bangladesh even if the opportunity arises.”
