Raza Khan

The government is trying to explore new markets in a bid to diversify the exports of garment and apparel products, reports WealthPK.

“We are focusing on non-traditional markets like Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia to enhance our textile exports,” said Mudassar Raza Siddiqui, Director General (Textile) at the Ministry of Commerce, while talking to WealthPK.

“The textile industry gave an exemplary performance by increasing exports from $12.5 billion in 2020 to $19.3 billion in 2021-2022, registering a 60% increase,” he said.

Mudassar said the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and Canada could be huge markets for textile exports.

“These three countries account for around $150 billion of the global  textile market. Now it is up to our exporters to grab new potential markets,’’ Mudassar said, adding that the government would provide any possible assistance to the exporters in this regard.

He said the government was also focusing on African countries for garment and apparel exports.

“Africa is a continent of over 50 countries and it cannot be ignored when it comes to trade and business. Under ‘Look Africa’ initiative, the government organized a business conference in Nigeria last year for Pakistani industrialists and importers so that they could explore the African market and assess the business environment,” Mudassar said.

The DG Textile further said another business conference would also be held in Africa in near future to provide the Pakistani exporters with a chance to interact with local businesses.

“This will also be a great opportunity for our textile exporters to grab the multibillion-dollar African Market,” Mudassar said.

He said Central Asian countries were keen to enhance trade with Pakistan, and currently several rounds of negotiations were being held with officials from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries.

Mudassar said Pakistan wanted to grab new markets for textiles exports while keeping the traditional market intact.

“The United States and European countries are the larger markets for Pakistan’s garment and apparel products”, he said, adding that the government wanted to enhance exports to these established markets while finding new ones.

He said Pakistan’s textile and apparel industry accounts for 60% of total exports and hosts 40% of the industrial labor employment.

“There is still a long way to go, as Pakistan’s textile exports account for only 2% of the global textile market,” he said.

“To enhance textiles exports, production needs to be shifted from conventional to high value-added products. The industry needs to improve human resource management, infrastructure and quality to grab the untapped potential of exports in various regions,” Mudassar said.      

Pakistan’s textiles exports were worth $19.329 billion during the fiscal year 2021-22 against $15.4 billion in the previous year, with an increase of 25.53%. According to the Textiles and Apparel Policy 2020-25, the current year’s textile exports target has been set at $25 billion.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk