There ia a news from KARACHI: The export of textile products made in Pakistan slumped by 22 percent in the month of January of the current financial year, compared to the preceding month of December, as well as decreasing by one percent against the corresponding month of previous year.

The textile exports, however, registered a growth of 5.45 percent in July-January of 2006-07 over the same period of the last financial year, according to the latest statistics of foreign trade on Thursday.

The export of textile products stood at $764.19 million in January over $769.90 million in same month of last financial year and $976.40 million of December of ongoing financial year.

The textile exports stood at $6.187 billion in the first seven months of this financial year against $ 5.867 billion worth of products exported in the same months of last year.

The updated official figures showed that export of all major textile products registered a negative growth, putting a question mark on the efforts of government to enhance the exports of textile sector, which registered some recovery in November and December of the current financial, however the recent major fall in the export of textile spilled cold water over the claims of the economic managers of the country of reviving the textile export.

This decline was expected and we would be witnessing a further fall in the export of textile products in the coming months, Zubair Motiwala, a leading textile industrialist commented and added that the political turmoil in Bangladesh in November and December benefited the local textile exporters when the buyers in major international market switched over to Pakistan for buying for the Christmas and New Year season due to uncertainty in Bangladesh.

As the political stability restored there, the buyers against moved to Bangladesh for buying, he added.

Another exporter said that despite a textile package and research & development support, the cost of production in the country is still high compared to its regional competitors China, India and Bangladesh, whose products are more competitive than ours.

The breakup of export of textile products figures suggests that the export of raw cotton declined by 34.50 percent in January of 2006-07 against the preceding month of this year.

The export of cotton cloth, which was in the billion-dollar export category in the last financial year decreased by 13.70 percent in the month under review compared to December.

The export of knitwear, which also ranked in the billion-dollar export category in financial year 2005-06, recorded a decline of 28.33 percent.

The export of bedwear, which neared to $ 2 billion in the last financial year, also reflected a negative growth in the said period by declining 21.62 percent.

The export of readymade garments declined by 19.41 per cent and the export of towel declined by 38.63 percent.

The export of made-up articles (excluding towels, bedwear) declined by 23.68 percent and cotton fell by 50 percent.

The export of cotton yarn posted a negative growth of 8.18 percent in the said period and art, silk and synthetic textile exports were down by 23.69 percent and other textile materials were down by 32.19 percent.

The export of other categories also under performed during month of January. The food group posted a negative growth of 5.52 and 9.73 percent in January compared to December of this year and January of last year respectively. The export of rice, which posted substantial gains in the first half of current year, was down by five percent in January this compared to the same month of the last year.

The export of petroleum group and coal declined by 6.94 percent and other manufacturing groups other than textile also decreased by 38.41 percent in the said month.