Pakistan’s Textile exports down by 3% in February 2021

March 24, 2021

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Pakistan’s textile exports for the month of Feb’2021 declined by 3% as compared to Feb-2020. The textile exports were down by 6.7% as compared to January-2021 to stand at US$1.2bn. The decline is due to seasonal slowdown at the start of the year with sales usually picking up in the spring season.

Segment-wise value and non-value added exports registered a decline of 6.4%YoY and 2.2%YoY respectively. . In the value-added segments, ready-made garments and bed wear registered a decline of 15.0% and 1.2% respectively while knitwear remained high with a growth of 13.0%YoY primarily led by price increase. Overall, for the period July’20 to Feb’21 textile exports registered an increase of 6.6%YoY to stand at US$10.0bn with value-added segment registering an uptick of 12.7%YoY.

International cotton prices have declined recently, down 2.7%MoM. However Going forward, cotton prices are likley to remain high as stronger demand on back of global economic revival is expected. Global textile Production next season is estimated at 25.2 million tonnes, and consumption at just over 25.5 million.

Local cotton prices have increased substantially by 23% in 2021 due to stronger demand from local manufacturers running at full capacity to fulfill orders. Low production have also caused a shortfall in cotton output which contributes in driving local prices high.