LAHORE - The textile industry can generate $13 billion by value addition of its yarn as well as grey fabric, which is presently being exported to Bangladesh, China and other countries, which are benefiting from raw material of Pakistan.
“The textile exports globally stand at $800 billion in which Pakistan’s share is only 1.5pc. After getting duty free access to EU following GSP plus status, the country will also be able to fetch the share of Bangladesh as well as China. China’s share in global trade is $300b from which they lost $30b due to increased cost of production,” observed the newly-appointed president of APTMA Punjab SM Tanvir.
He said that we are in talks with China to set up their units in Pakistan and they too are willing to help Pakistan in this regard.  He believed that during this period as many as 10 million new jobs will be created in textile sector which would help in reducing poverty and redundancy and help in boosting economic activates in country.
He said that Pakistan textile exports stand at $13 billion for last fiscal year which is on rise in last five years despite the worse energy crisis scenario. In next 4 years, Pakistan textile industry will use its whole capacity to achieve the export target of $26 billion as country is expecting GSP+ status in January next year, and this free access to EU would help us achieve this goal, said Amir Fayyaz, head of International Trade Committee, under the cover of APTMA while talking with members of Lahore Economic Journalists Association.
He said that Pakistan textile industry, which believes to be the backbone of national economy in terms of revenue generation and job creation, is struggling hard along with government to benefit from the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), to access the markets of European Union. He said that industrialists are expecting to finally get GSP+ in January next year and are planning to boost textile exports at least 100 percent in next 4 years.
APTMA former chairman Gohar Ejaz said that they have successfully concluded the first step for getting GSP+, as technical evaluation by European Union commission has been concluded in this regard. “Now we are looking for other step and that is to market Pakistani textile via international road shows.”
Currently any importer in Europe, who imports Pakistani textile products, has to pay 11pc duty, which makes Pakistani product costly. Pakistan exports $2.7b worth of yarn annually to Bangladesh and other countries who add value, make garments and export to EU. Similarly $2.5b worth of plain and dyed fabric has been exported to other countries who add value and further export to EU.
This is happening as Pakistan cannot export to EU markets at zero duty rates.