"Pakistan has been exporting cotton and yarn to China for 40 to 50 years and we are trying to develop exports of fabrics and ready-made garments,” said Usman Saeed, head of the China operations of a 38-year-old Pakistani textile company. Talking to Gwadar Pro at the Intertextile Expo held in Shanghai, Usman said the international textile exhibition provided a platform to showcase Pakistani products. Pakistani exhibitors can also benefit from the state-of-the-art technologies and trends from their Chinese counterparts, he added.

Usman hoped that more Chinese enterprises would participate in the upcoming 4th International Textile Expo to be held in Karachi next month for technical and professional exchanges.  There will be products ranging from raw materials to finished goods at the expo that are competitive in price and quality all around the world, he added.

Pakistan is a leading textile country with production capacity spanning the whole industrial chain. Most of its textile products are exported to Europe and America. Usman’s company has also contributed to Pakistan's textile exports by manufacturing for international sports brands. 

Believing that China's large population, with its diverse tastes, could make room for many products, the company started its business in China in 2016 by opening an office in Dongguan, Guangdong. Usman sees a golden opportunity to tap the Chinese market, where dying and processing policies are becoming more stringent. With the development of high technology, the rising labor cost in China has challenged the development of labor-intensive textile manufacturing industry.

Pakistan’s men’s garments export to China increased by nearly 33% in 2022 and its T-shirt export to China reached $ 5.53 million in the first two months of 2023, up 106% compared with the same period in 2022. The figures boost confidence in Pakistan's ailing textile industry, which is teetering on the brink of default, and highlight its pillar status and potential, said Usman.

It only takes seven days to export textiles by land from Pakistan to China with zero tariff. Usman and his team are working hard to make the most of these huge benefits. “We have Chinese technicians working with us in our Pakistani factory to produce fabrics that meet Chinese standards. We hope that in the near future, more fabrics and garments produced by Chinese standards can be exported to China and around the world,” Usman added.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP