Pakistan sees 20pc drop in textile exports for May: Aptma
Last updated on: 04 June,2023 11:32 am
Trend represents 15pc reduction during the current fiscal year
KARACHI (Web Desk) – Pakistan has witnessed a 20 per cent decline in textile exports in the month of May on a year-on-year basis, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) data shows.
The latest report comes just a day after the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that country was unlikely to meet the $32 billion exports target for the outgoing financial year.
Read more: Pakistan won't meet $32bn exports target!
According to the PBS figures for the month of May, the total volume of exports during the July-May period of 2022-23 stood at $25.36bn, meaning there is a shortfall of around $6.64bn while the country only has one more month of June to go.
The Aptma’s provincial data released on Saturday also showed that the textile exports shrank by 15pc in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year to $15.02bn against the figures of $17.61bn from the corresponding period of the last financial year 2021-22.
It represents an alarming trend for a country which heavily dependends on textile sector for exports with the State Bank of Pakistan currently having only over $4bn foreign exchange reserves at its disposal.
Previously, the textile body had warned that the country’s textile exports could fall by $3bn in 2022-23 against the level reached last fiscal year.
The Aptma figures reinforces the PBS data shared last month that showed a 14.22pc plunge on year-on-year basis to $13.7bn during the July-April period of the current fiscal year.
Read more: Pakistan's textile exports plummet to $13.7bn YoY
It's the surging cost of production and a reduced worldwide demand due the rising inflation, forcing the consumers to reset their priorities, which are the reasons behind the shrinking textile exports.