ISLAMABAD  - Textile exports from the country grew by 6.55 per cent during the first eight months of current fiscal year (2012-13) as against the same period of last year.
The overall textile exports were recorded at $8.483 billion during July-February (2012-13) against $7.962 billion during July-February (2011-12), according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here.
The main contributor to positive growth of the textile exports was cotton yarn, whose export surged by 31.27 per cent.
Other textile commodities that witnessed positive growth included cotton cloth with 11.77 per cent increase and yarn (other than cotton yarn) with 5.08 percent increase and knitwear by 2.29 per cent.
During the period under review, the export of towels increased by 15.56 percent, tents, canvas and tarpaulin by 34.22 per cent, readymade garments by 8.76 percent, madeup articles (excluding towels and bedwear) by 6.04 per cent and other textile materials by 47.41 per cent.
The textile commodities that witnessed negative growth during the period under review included raw cotton, whose exports shrunk by 63.30 per cent and cotton carded or combed by 83.47 per cent, bed-wear by 2.88 per cent, and synthetic textile by 27.60 percent.
Meanwhile, the textile exports during February 2013 witnessed negative growth of 6.83 per cent and 4.13 per cent when compared to the exports of January 2013 and February 2012 respectively.
It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s trade deficit decreased by 10.06 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as exports expanded by 5 per cent and imports witnessed negative growth of 2.41 percent.
The overall exports from the country increased from $15.128 billion in July-February to US$15.884 billion during July-February (2012-13), according to the PBS data.
On the other hand, the imports decreased from $29.788 billion last year to $29.069 billion during the current fiscal year, showing negative growth of 2.41 percent, the data revealed.
According to the data, the trade deficit during the fist eight months of current fiscal stood at $13.185 billion against $14.660 billion last year, showing negative growth of 10.06 per cent.