ISLAMABAD     -    Mian M Usman Zulfiqar, presi­dent Pakistan Businesses Forum, has said that tex­tile sector needs brand­ing as it can promote Pakistani flavour in the international market and help secure maximum orders, which can aug­ment the export value of readymade garments.

Talking to a delega­tion of the business com­munity, he said the fo­cus on brand building in the textile industry can fetch better export vol­umes but unfortunately exporters in Pakistan do not pay attention to this factor.

“Various studies sug­gest that consumers are influenced 25pc by price and packaging and 25pc by communication and promotions, whereas the quality of a product, po­sitioning, availability and origin each has a 12.5pc impact on consumers. That means consumers are influenced more by branding and marketing than the quality of the product.”

He said that Pakistan’s fashion designing and textile segments had emerged as important contributors to the na­tional trade because of their export potential.

He was of the view that two segments possessed tremendous potential to secure a mammoth share in the international fash­ion market valued at bil­lions of dollars.

“Pakistan can grab a significant share in the global fashion industry if it succeeds in attracting the attention of foreign buyers,” he said.

Zulfiqar recommend­ed the government to es­tablish five mega textile parks in special econom­ic zones to help turn the local industry competi­tive at the global level.

He stressed that the government should make it compulsory for large spinning units, hav­ing more than 30,000 spindles, to grow their own cotton for manufac­turing yarn.

“The country’s textile exports cannot be en­hanced without increas­ing the area under cotton cultivation and enhanc­ing the cotton yield,” he said.

He highlighted that the country’s textile sector was functioned on its full capacity in 2020/21 and all major textile export­ing nations, including Pa­kistan, were brimming with orders because stores were mostly emp­ty due to the disruption to the supply chain of textile.

“However we haven’t devised a proper mech­anism to continue that trend in the long run. Now again we are in sort of trouble. Despite other challenges of tariff issues which is again visible in the industry,” he said.

Similarly textile sector “is also producing arti­ficial silk, which resem­bles its natural coun­terpart but costs less to produce,” he said, add­ing that around 90,000 looms were working on this product throughout the country.

“The quality of fabric produced by Pakistan is better than many oth­er countries,” he empha­sised.

He said that the lack of brand building was limit­ing revenues of the coun­try and pointed out that Pakistan could generate an additional $2 billion in exports solely by fo­cusing on branding.

“European companies earn millions of dollars by branding merchan­dise that is mostly man­ufactured in South Asian countries.”