ISLAMABAD: The exports of textile commodities witnessed an increase of 17.35 percent during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last year and surged by 213 percent on a year-on-year basis (YoY). The textile exports were recorded at $12692.840 million in July-April (2020-21) against the exports of $10816.276 million in July-April (2019-20), showing a growth of 17.35 percent, according to the latest data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) issued here on Friday. The textile commodities that contributed in trade growth included knitwear, exports of which increased from $2392.064 million last year to $3126.095 million during the current year, showing growth of 30.69 percent. Likewise, the exports of yarn (other than cotton yarn) increased by 22.42 percent, from $22.051 million to $26.995 million whereas, exports of bed wear increased by 24.66 percent from $1838.449 million to $2291.779 million. The exports of towels increased by 27.18 percent, from $610.696 million to $776.708 million; exports of tents, canvas and tarpaulin grew by 21.86 percent, from $78.556 million to $95.725 million; readymade garments by 12.56 percent, from $2231.697 million to $2512.021 million; made-up articles, excluding towels and bead wear by 22.22 percent, from $513.405 million to $627.479 million while the exports of art, silk and synthetic textile increased from $272.919 to $301.634 million, showing growth of 10.52 percent. Meanwhile, the commodities that witnessed negative growth in trade included raw cotton, exports of which decreased by 96.51 percent, from $17.002 million to $0.593 million; cotton yarn decreased by 4.03 percent, from $858.580 million to $823.948 million whereas the exports of cotton cloth also decreased by 1.24 percent, from $1601.650 million to $1581.564 million. The exports of all other textile materials also increased by 39.24 percent, from $379.362 million to $528.225 million, the PBS data revealed. On a year-on-year basis, the textile exports increased by 213.17 percent during the month of April 2021 as compared to the same month of the last year. The exports during April 2021 were recorded at $1,337.385 million against the exports of $403.833 million during April 2020. On a month-on-month basis, the exports from the country, however, witnessed a decrease of 3.21 percent during April 2021 when compared to the exports of $1355.542 million in March 2021. It is pertinent to mention here that the merchandise exports from the country increased by 13.49 percent during the first ten months of the current fiscal year. The exports from the country were recorded at $20.881 billion during July-April (2020-21) against the exports of $18.399 billion in July-April (2019-20). On the other hand, the merchandise imports into the country also increased by 17.67 percent by going up from $37.992 billion last year to $44.706 billion during the current year. Based on the figures, the trade deficit increased by 21.60 percent by swelling from $19.593 billion last year to $23.825 billion during the current fiscal year. WHAT ANALYST SAYS However, Topline Securities analyst Saad Ziker told Daily Times that Pakistan textile exports have clocked in at $1.34bn (or Rs205bn) in April 2021, down by 1.3% MoM in USD terms and 3.2% MoM in PKR terms. He said that the exports of knitwear increased by 10.0% MoM in Apr-2021, while exports of readymade garments declined by 5.1% MoM. Interestingly, “the quantity of knitwear exported declined by 0.7% MoM while the number of readymade garments exported increased by 11.1% MoM,” he said. Within basic textiles, export of cotton yarn and cotton cloth declined by 10.3% MoM and 11.7% MoM, mainly due to the decline in quantity exported. He said that Pakistan’s textile exports are up by 231.2% YoY in April 2021. However, he said that the growth was largely misleading due to the worldwide lockdown of economies last year amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. During 10MFY21, textile exports have increased by 17.4% YoY to $12.69bn (up 20.6% YoY in PKR terms) as Pakistan continues to receive export orders from global economies as competing countries like India, Bangladesh remains hampered by the COVID-19 outbreak.