The All Pakistan Textile Manufacturing Association (APTMA) on Tuesday said that due to the higher cotton output, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was set to surpass the 5pc mark during the fiscal year 2021-22. “Cotton arrivals rose by 100pc to 3.8 million bales,” the Association said in a statement adding that this could not only help Pakistan achieve more than 5pc GDP growth but would also increase exports significantly. By October 01, 2021 over 3.846 million bales had arrived in the local markets as compared to the arrival of 1.907 million bales in the corresponding period of the previous year. According to an APTMA official, over 100 new state of the art textile mills are expected to be established in the country under the new Textile policy which would help raise the country’s exports by over $20 billion. The new industrial units in the textile industry would also help attract foreign investment of over $5 billion besides providing more than 500,000 jobs to the local people, the APTMA official said. Meanwhile, according to latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the exports of textile commodities surged by 28.67 percent during the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year and surged by 45.19 percent on a year-on-year basis. The textile exports were recorded at $2.934 billion in July-August (2021-22) against the exports of $2.28 billion in July-August (2020-21), showing a growth of 28.67 percent. The textile commodities that contributed in the trade growth included cotton yarn, the exports of which increased from $115.136 million last year to $193.389 million during the current year, showing a growth of 67.97 percent. Likewise, the exports of yarn cotton cloth also increased by 24.74 percent, from $294.724 million to $367.624 million whereas, exports of cotton (carded or combed) increased by 100 percent to 0.770 million. The exports of towels during the period under review increased by 20.67 percent, from $133.104 million to $160.612 million, readymade garments by 22.57 percent, from $477.216 million to $584.913 million, art, silk and synthetic textile by 34.08 percent, from $51.613 million to $69.202 million, made up articles (excluding towels and bed wear) by 21.26 percent from $109.846 million to $133.194 million. Whereas the exports of other textile materials increased by 37.44 million, from $86.743 million to $119.222 million. On a year-on-year basis, the textile exports increased by 45.19 percent during the month of August 2021 as compared to the same month of the previous year.