Pakistan's exports reach decade-high of $2.3b in March

• Exports hit decade-high of $2.3 billion in March.
• Adviser to Prime Minister for Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood says first time since 2011 that exports have crossed the $2 billion mark for six consecutive months.
• The commerce adviser, however, termed the annual growth as misleading because last year’s lockdown kept the industrial wheel extremely slow.

ISLAMABAD: Exports for March in Pakistan reached a decade-high of $2.3 billion, with monthly figures showing growth year-on-year and over the previous month, Adviser to Prime Minister for Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood said Thursday.

“[The] ministry of commerce is glad to share that according to provisional figures, in March 2021 our exports increased to $2.345 billion. This is an increase of 13.4% over February 2021. It is the monthly highest in last 10 years,” Dawood wrote on Twitter.

“This is also the first time since 2011 that exports have crossed the $2 billion mark for six consecutive months,” she said.

Read more: Pakistan's textile exports decline 3.1% in February

The commerce adviser, however, termed the annual growth as misleading because last year’s lockdown kept the industrial wheel extremely slow.

“The export growth of 29.3% over March, 2020 should not be considered as it is misleading since there was a lockdown last year,” Dawood said.

For the nine-month period of July-March of the current fiscal year, exports increased 7% to $18.6 billion as compared to $17.4 billion in the corresponding period last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce’s data.

Due to a shortage in cotton, exports are expected to get an upset. Cotton is the main industrial input of textile industry that accounts for more than 60% of total exports.

The government is uncertain about giving a go-ahead to cotton and yarn import from India, the world’s largest cotton producer. Analysts said textile industry’s growth is tied with cotton import from India to keep up momentum of textile exports from the country.

Read more: EU accepts Pakistani rice exporters' plea on why India shouldn't get exclusive rights to export basmati

“It’s extremely important as there is significant shortfall in cotton production this year. Lack of cotton will result in reduced textile output and hence exports,” Saad Hashemy, an executive of Karachi-based BMA Capital said.

Although some analysts said banning Indian cotton would not deprive Pakistan’s textile industry of the raw material, they still believe cross-border trade is more cost-effective.

“Eventually we will be importing from China and Europe as we are doing it right now,” said Tahir Abbas, head of Research at Arif Habib Limited.