Pakistan’s textile sector experienced a decline in exports during the fiscal year 2022-23, with a drop of 14.6 percent to $16.5 billion compared to the record high of $19.33 billion achieved in FY2021-22.
This decline was attributed to a continuous decrease in sales abroad, marking the ninth consecutive month of decline until the end of the fiscal year in June.
In June 2023, textile exports declined by 13.7 percent to $1.47 billion compared to $1.71 billion in the same month of the previous year. However, over the previous month’s exports of $1.32 billion, it increased 11.47 percent, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
Since October 2022, there have been substantial declines in textile exports, with reductions of 15.23 percent, 18.15 percent, 16.47 percent, 14.8 percent, 29.9 percent, 22.6 percent, 29.1 percent, and 19.57 percent in November, December, January, February, March, April, and May, respectively, when compared to the corresponding months of the previous year.
All major components within the textile group, including cotton cloth, knitwear, bedwear, towels, and readymade garments, witnessed a decrease in exports.
In FY23, exports of cotton cloth decreased by 17.1 percent to $2.02 billion, knitwear fell by 13.36 percent to $4.44 billion, bedwear 18.26 percent to $2.69 billion, readymade garments 10.57 percent to $3.49 billion, towels declined by 10 percent to $999.6 million, and cotton yarn exports decreased by 30 percent to $844.2 million compared to the last fiscal’s exports.
It is worth noting that in FY22, the textile sector’s exports were at historic high of $19.35 billion, that increased 25 percent compared to FY21’s exports of $15.4 billion.
Exports of food groups decreased by 7.25 percent to $5.02 billion compared to $5.42 billion recorded last year. Within the group, rice exports totalled $2.15 billion, a 14.5 percent decrease from FY22. Basmati rice exports decreased by 6.35 percent to $650.4 million, while other rice exports decreased by 17.6 percent to $1.5 billion compared to the corresponding $1.82 billion in last fiscal. Exports of fish and fish preparations increased by 15.2 percent to $496.3 million, Sugar exports in FY23 were recorded at $104.5 million.
Sports goods exports increased 10.9 percent to $404.8 million, of which, football exports increased by 24.25 percent to $236.9 million. Export of surgical goods went up 5.85 percent to $447.4 million, and chemicals and pharmaceuticals went down 11.6 percent to $1.387 billion. Cement exports dipped 15.2 percent to $189.9 million in FY23 against $224 million in FY22.
In June 2023, exports of cotton cloth decreased by 19.1 percent to $162.6 million, knitwear by 17.5 percent to $392 million, bedwear fell by 15.4 percent to $240.4 million, readymade garments decreased by 13.3 percent to $319.6 million, towels declined by 4.4 percent to $87.2 million, while cotton yarn exports jumped up 13.8 percent to $107.1 million compared to the same month of the last fiscal.
Significant decline in petroleum imports
In FY23, imports of the petroleum group experienced a notable decrease, declining by 27 percent compared to $17.0 billion against $23.3 billion in FY22. The import ofcrude oil dropped by 11.6 percent to $4.95 billion, petroleum products by 36.8 percent to $7.63 billion, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 24.6 percent to $3.76 billion. On the other hand, imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) increased by 2.2 percent to stand at $675 million.
Machinery imports in FY23 witnessed a year-on-year decline of 46.8 percent, totalling $5.81 billion compared to $10.9 billion in FY22.
Among the subcategories, imports of textile machinery decreased by 57 percent to $328.6 million, power generation machinery by 66 percent to $499.8 million, agriculture machinery by 63.4 percent to $41 million, construction and mining machinery down by 51 percent to $85.3 million, and telecom machinery imports reduced by 64.3 percent to $570 million.
Electricity machinery and apparatus imports also went down by 13.6 percent, amounting to $1.67 billion.
Imports of mobile sets experienced a substantial decline of 71.2 percent, reaching $570 million compared to $1.98 billion in FY22. Within the transport sector, which includes cars, vehicles, and parts, imports declined by 60.5 percent in FY23, totalling $1.76 billion against $4.45 billion in FY22.
In terms of road motor vehicles (built units, CKD/SKD), spending during the fiscal reduced 57.5 percent to 1.565 billion. Under completely built units (CBU), imports of buses, trucks, and other heavy vehicles experienced a decline of 68.9 percent to $104.6 million, while motor car imports were down by 77.3 percent to $70.3 million compared to the same month last year.
Regarding CKD/SKD models, imports of buses, trucks, and other heavy vehicles decreased by 55.6 percent to $289.7 million, while motor car imports fell by 55 percent to $752.3 million. Additionally, motorcycle imports stood at $41.2 million, while parts and accessories imports stood at $281 million.
