Pakistan's textile group exports have seen a decline of approximately 2.99% during the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year, reaching $9.738 billion compared to $10.038 billion in the same period of 2022-23.
However, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the country's overall exports during July-January 2023-24 showed a positive trend, totaling $17.778 billion (provisional) compared to $16.481 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, marking a notable increase of 7.87%.
In January 2024, exports amounted to $2.792 billion (provisional), indicating a slight decrease of 1.06% from December 2023's $2.822 billion. Nonetheless, January 2024 saw a significant surge of 24.81% compared to the $2.237 billion recorded in January 2023.
Analysing the month-on-month (MoM) basis, textile exports witnessed a growth of 3.98% in January 2024, totaling $1.455 billion compared to $1.399 billion in December 2023. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, textile exports increased by 10.10% in January 2024, compared to $1.321 billion in January 2023.
Cotton yarn exports particularly flourished during the first seven months of the fiscal year, experiencing a substantial increase of 49.04 percent, amounting to $669.824 million compared to $449.418 million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Similarly, rice exports surged by 95.26 percent, reaching $2.115 billion during the same period.
Food group exports also saw a significant rise, increasing by 57.66 percent to $4.267 billion compared to $2.706 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.
The leading commodities of exports in January 2024 included rice others, knitwear, readymade garments, bed wear, cotton cloth, towels, rice basmati, cotton yarn, vegetables, and petroleum products.
