According to the statistics released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the country paid 25.59 per cent more amount to import textile raw material in the first nine-month period of FY 2021-22.
The total value of textile imports was recorded at US $ 3.50 billion in July-March 2021-22 period, which is 25.59 per cent higher than the corresponding period of the fiscal year 2020-21, when import volume of the textiles remained US $ 2.78 billion.
The PBS data further shows that the import of raw cotton, synthetic fibre and synthetic and artificial silk yarn decreased in terms of quantity during the review period, while the value of the import recorded increase due to higher prices of the commodities in the international market.
During three quarters of the current fiscal year, 533,871 metric tonnes of raw cotton worth US $ 1.20 billion were imported, while the imported weight in the corresponding period last year was 624,945 metric tonnes that valued US $ 1.03 billion.
There was 14.57 per cent decrease in terms of quantity of imported raw cotton, while 16.80 per cent increase was noted in terms of value.
The same trend was seen in the import of synthetic fibre as its quantity declined by 15.85 per cent to 291,364 metric tonnes from 346,248 metric tonnes, while import value surged 27.51 per cent from US $ 440.986 million to US $ 562.281 million.
On the other hand, import of synthetic and artificial silk yarn has recorded a 30 per cent increase in value, while a 7.64 per cent decline in quantity (293,191 metric tonnes) was recorded.
