Report by Engineering Post
The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has demanded of the Federal Government for granting direct import rights for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and allowing procurement of 35 percent of newly-discovered domestic gas reserves through competitive under the third party access.
According to the APTMA facts and figures, country’s textile exports had grown by 8.6 percent in 2024 reaching US $ 17.45 billion from US $ 16.07 billion in 2023 but still falling short of the pre-crisis level of US $ 18.67 billion which was recorded in 2022.
However, the textile sector was also witnessing a surge in imports of the raw materials such as cotton, and cloth, as local sales had due to tax disparities between domestically -produced and imported inputs. Textile sector’s representative body has also warned that the net foreign exchange earnings could still have been higher in the range of US $ 1.5 billion to US $ 2 billion if the local industries were not disadvantaged negatively.
On the whole , textiles are Pakistan’s most critical manufacturing sector.
It has the longest production chain, with inherent potential for value addition at each processing stage, from cotton to ginning, spinning, fabric, dyeing and finishing, made-ups and garments.
The textile sector contributes nearly one-fourth of the industrial sector value-added and employs about 40 percent of the industrial labour force, Barring seasonal and cyclical fluctuations, textile products have maintained an average share of about 54.5 percent in the country’s exports.
The ancillary textile industry includes cotton spinning, cotton cloth, cotton yarn, cotton fabric, abric processing, home textiles, towels, hosiery, knitwear and readymade garments.
These components are being produced both in the large-scale organized sector and in the unorganized cottage/ small and medium sized units.
The performance of these various ancillary textile industries i.e. Cotton spinning Sector, Cloth Sector, Textile made-up Sector, Synthetic Textile Fabrics and Woolen Industry may be presented briefly on these pages some other time, please.
