As a part of his regular engagement to fortnightly review the sectoral performances and undertake pragmatic interventions to boost national exports, Federal Minister for Commerce, Jam Kamal Khan held an internal meeting at Ministry of Commerce with Shakeel Ahmed Mangnejo, Special Secretary, Commerce and Mudassar Raza Siddiqi, Director General (Textile).
Mr. Siddiqi apprised the Minister that Pakistan’s textiles and apparel industry, a cornerstone of the nation’s economy, has showcased remarkable resilience in the face of global economic headwinds and domestic challenges, and regained its lost momentum with a growth rate of 9.3 percent in first eight months of current financial year 2024-25 as compared to the corresponding period of last financial year.
He further underscored that the exports of apparel witnessed double digit growth of around 19 percent and achieved historical high level of US$ 6.2 billion in the same period. The Federal Minister acknowledged that export performance reflects the commitment of Government of Pakistan to focusing more on exports of value-added finished products while maximizing utilization of input materials available in the country. DG (Textile) shared that Pakistan, once ranked as third largest producer of cotton, has been dropped down to sixth position globally.
Comparing the case of Pakistan with Brazil, he highlighted that both countries have almost the same crop acreages, however yield per hectare of Brazil is three times higher than that of Pakistan due to adoption of high technology seed varieties, precision agriculture, mechanized harvesting, rainfed irrigation and use of renewable energy. The Federal Minister for Commerce emphasized that latest disease resistant and climate resilient seed varieties, prohibition of uncertified seeds and chemicals in the local market along-with adoption of good agricultural practices will certainly help to reviving local cotton production and profitability of farmers.
After a thorough appraisal of key barriers to trade in comparison with regional competitors, market insights, global sales forecasting and evolving geopolitical situation, Mr. Siddiqi presented a Short to Medium to Long Term Work Plan to the Commerce Minister to boost exports of Pakistan’s textiles and apparel sector by opting pragmatic interventions to reducing cost of manufacturing, enhancing economies of scales, targeted marketing events, diversifying to high value-added finished products including technical textiles, expanding to non-traditional markets, simplifying the non-tariff and technical barriers to trade, getting access of potential markets, developing and implementing national action plan on sustainability and circularity, facilitating export-centric R&D projects at firm level, aligning academic activities with industrial needs, and most important developing national Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) development program. Minister Jam Kamal further noted that Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world with a complete textile and apparel value chain and contributing in socio-economic development of the country. Mr. Khan emphasized on the implementation of strategic interventions to address key challenges and unlock the sector’s full potential.
The minister expressed optimism about increasing textiles and apparel exports through collaborative efforts and supportive policies. He encouraged to focus on potential in existing markets, explore new markets, diversify more to high value finished products, and uplifting of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.