Pakistan’s exports of textile commodities witnessed an increase of 2.92 per cent during the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The textile exports from the country were recorded at $3469.585 million ($ 3.5 billion) in July-September (2020-21) against the exports of $3371.376 million ($3.4 billion) in July-September (2019-20), showing a growth of 2.92 per cent, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The textile commodities that contributed in positive trade growth included knitwear, exports of which increased from $779.293 million last year to $860.758 million during the current year, showing growth of 10.46 per cent.

Likewise, exports of bedwear increased by 8.40 per cent by growing from $601.024 to $651.487 while the exports of tents, canvas and tarplin grew by 78.71 per cent, from $15.771 to $28.184, the PBS data revealed.

The readymade garments exports were recorded at $701.442 million during the current year against the exports of $666.157 million last year, showing an increase of 5.24 per cent while exports of madeup articles (excluding towels and bead-wear) increased by 16.58 per cent from $148.050 million to $172.604 million.

The commodities that witnessed negative growth in traded included raw cotton, exports of which declined by 97.50 per cent, from $10.826 million to $0.271 million while the exports of cotton yarn decreased by 42.65 per cent, from $297.237 million to $170.475 million.

Exports of cotton cloth also decreased by 8.49 per cent, from $499.390 million to $457.060, yarn (other than cotton yarn) by 22.77 per cent, from $7.230 million to $0.931 million, art silk and synthetic textile by 2.93 per cent from $77.894 million to $75.615 million whereas the exports of cotton (carded or combed) witnessed 100 per cent decline during the period under review.

On year-on-year basis, the textile exports increased by 11.30 per cent during the month of September 2020 as compared to the same month of last year.

The exports during September 2020 were recorded at 1189.739 million against the exports of $1068.906 million.

On month-on-month basis, the exports from the country increased by 18.09 per cent during September 2020 when compared to the exports of $1007.509 million in August 2020.

The country’s overall merchandise exports registered negative growth of 0.94 per cent, by going down from $5.510 billion during the first quarter of last year to $5.458 billion during the current year.

On the other hand, the imports decreased by 0.56 per cent, from $11.199 billion last year to $11.262 billion during the current year, the PBS data revealed.

Meanwhile, the country’s trade deficit soared to $5.8 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, according to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The central bank said foreign direct investment (FDI) declined by 24 per cent to $415.7 million from July to September as compared to last year’s corresponding period.

The foreign investment was recorded at $189 million in September 2020. The power sector received foreign direct investment (FDI) worth $113.3 million in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2020-21 while financial business $102.5 million.

Earlier, on October 15, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had announced that the foreign reserves in the country witnessed a decline of $356 million in the week ending on October 9.

The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country currently stood at $19,015.5 million on October 9.

Giving a break-up of the foreign reserves, the central bank said that it currently holds the reserves of up to $11,798.4 million as compared to the $7,217.1 million foreign exchange (forex) reserves held by the commercial banks. Weekly inflation for the combined group during the period ended on October 15 increased by 0.45 per cent to 9.20 per cent year-on-year basis due to rising prices of essential food items, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) is calculated on the basis of the prices of 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.

According to data, the increase was reported due to a rise of one per cent or more in prices of essential commodities, including chicken, up 15.35 per cent; eggs 5.84 per cent, tomatoes 3.45 per cent and sugar 2.14 per cent.

On the other hand, a decrease was witnessed in the prices of bananas, down 2.49 per cent, onions 2.30 per cent, potatoes 1.75 per cent, moong pulse 0.64 per cent and gur 0.21 per cent.

News Network International