ISLAMABAD-Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Friday urged the exporters to aggressively focus on capturing a larger share of international exports.
Dawood paid rich tributes to Pakistan’s exporters for achieving handsome growth in exports in last few months in difficult times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and contraction in Pakistan’s major markets. He advised the officials of the ministry of commerce that much more needs to be done. He made these remarks while chairing a consultative meeting via video link to review the provisional (pre-PBS) trade data till the month of January 2021. Pakistan’s exports have crossed $ 2 billion mark in four months running for the first time in last eight years.
He was informed that exports in January 2021 have increased by 8% percent to USD 2,135 million as compared to USD 1,978 million in January 2020. He was informed that this is the first time in last eight years that exports have crossed the $ 2 billion mark for four consecutive months.
He was briefed that in January 2021, an increasing trend has been witnessed in the export of value-added and non-traditional products. The exports of jerseys & cardigans increased by 72%, pharmaceutical by 55%, t-shirts by 43%, plastics by 24%, women’s garments by 21%, home textiles by 19%, textile made-up by 11%, men’s garments by 8% and rice by 7% as compared to January 2020.
He was also informed that decreasing trend was noted in export of mostly non-value-added products. The exports of maize decreased by 82%, raw leather by 23%, cotton yarn by 11%, cotton fabric by 14% and meat by 5% as compared to January 2020.
The meeting was informed that geographically, in January 2021, exports increased to Canada (43%), Australia (42%), the United States (36%), South Africa (27%), China (21%), the United Kingdom (21%), Belgium (18%), and Saudi Arabia (14%). While there was decrease in exports to Jordan (-68%), Senegal (-59%), Italy (-24%), Turkey (-21%), Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (-19% each).
The 7-months’ performance of exports was also discussed in the meeting. The advisor was informed that the provisional (pre-PBS) export data for the period July-January 2020-21 showed that the exports increased by 5.5%, to USD 14,245 million as compared to USD 13,507 million during the same period last year.
During July-January 2020-21, the exports of value-added and non-traditional products increased especially for tents & canvas (49%), jerseys & cardigans (37%), pharmaceuticals (28%), cutlery (27%), socks & stockings (26%), women’s garments (22%), home textiles (17%) and textile made-ups (9%) as compared to the same period last year.
He was informed that as compared to the same period in the previous year, during July-January 2020-21 the export decrease was observed in mostly non-value added products, such as cotton (-96%), maize (-49%), raw leather (-30%), cotton yarn (-24%) and cotton fabric (-9%).
Dawood was informed that on the basis of export growth Pakistan’s top markets for 7-month period are Indonesia (43%), Australia (22%), the United States (21%), the United Kingdom (21%), Poland (14%), Germany (12%), the Netherlands (11%) and China (9%).
He was further informed that compared to last year, the markets showing declining exports during July-January 2020-21 were Thailand (-43%), Malaysia (-24%), Sri Lanka (-23%), the United Arab Emirates (-21%), Bangladesh (-18%), Italy (-7%) and Spain (-5%).
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