Saba Javed

Textile imports declined by 13.93% to $3.0129 billion during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year as against the imports of $3.5007 billion during the corresponding period of the last year, reports WealthPK quoting data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). On a year-on-year basis, textile imports decreased by 38.20% and remained at $267.325 million in March 2023 compared with $432.551 million in March 2022. On a month-on-month basis, imports decreased by 4.57% to $267.325 million in March 2023 compared to $280.114 million in February 2023.

Compared to the same period last year (2022) when synthetic fibre imports totalled 290,623 metric tonnes valuing at $562.290 million, the imports were 172,508 metric tonnes costing $357.817 million during the period under review. This represents a 36.36% decrease in synthetic fibre imports. On a year-on-year basis, synthetic fibre imports decreased by 56.30% in March 2023 compared to the same month last year. The imports in March 2023 were recorded at $28.335 million against the imports of $64.845 million in March 2022. Synthetic fibre imports increased by 1.15% month-on-month to $28.335 million in March 2023 compared with $28.014 million in February 2023.

Raw cotton imports grew by 16.33% to $1.4023 billion during July-March 2022-23 from $1.2054 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. Raw cotton trade surged by 6.10%, as imports increased from 536,059 metric tons to 568,736 metric tons in the nine months of the current fiscal year 2023.On a year-on-year basis, raw cotton imports decreased by 4.68% to $148.951 million in March 2023 from $156.268 million during the same month last year. Similarly, raw cotton imports increased by 7.69% month-on-month in March 2023 compared with $138.318 million in February 2023 to $148.951 million in March 2023.

In addition, the country imported around 182,683 metric tonnes of synthetic and artificial silk yarn costing $448.148 million in the first nine months of the Fiscal Year 2022-2023, down from 281,351 metric tonnes costing $650,219 million imported during the same period of the previous year.Synthetic and artificial silk yarn imports decreased by 60.48% during the study period compared to the imports during the same period of the previous year. The imports in March 2023 were recorded at $31.844 million against the imports of $80.577 million in March 2022.

Synthetic and artificial silk yarn imports decreased by 24.83% month-on-month to $31.844 million in March 2023 compared with $42.364 million in February 2023. Nevertheless, compared to 764,065 metric tonnes worth $341.711 million during the same period last year, the imports of worn clothing decreased by 15.67% during the first nine months to 563,942 metric tonnes valued at $288.174 million.

On a month-on-month basis, the imports of worn clothing witnessed an increase of 19.08% to $28.472 million in March 2023 compared to the imports of $23.910 million in February 2023. Meantime, imports of worn clothing decreased by 58.89% to $28.472 million in March 2023 as against the exports of $69.261 million in March 2022. To meet the local needs, other textile items worth $516.445 million were imported from July through March 2022-2023 as opposed to $741.028 million during the same period of the previous year, showing a decrease of 30.31%.

On a year-on-year basis, the imports of other textile items decreased by 51.75% during the study period, $29.723 million were recorded in March 2023 against the imports of $61.600 million in March 2022. On the other hand, the monthly imports of other textile items decreased by 37.44% to $29.723 million in March 2023, compared to $47.508 million in February 2023.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk