Pakistan’s textile exports in trouble

Pakistan’s “Business Chronicle” reported that Pakistan’s textile exports in January were US$754 million, a decrease of 8.98% from December 2008. In 2009, Pakistan’s textile orders dropped by 20-25% compared with the same period in 2008. Even if 200 containers of textiles were recently exported to the EU, Russia, and the United States according to the order, the exporter faced a loss of US$60 million because the buyer was unable to redeem the order. Shrinking foreign demand and rising domestic production costs are the main reasons for Pakistan’s textile exports to be in trouble. In addition, the ruble suddenly depreciated by 40% against the US dollar, which also caused Pakistan to suffer huge losses in its exports of Russian textiles. Electricity and natural gas supply for Pakistan’s textile production fell by 50% in February. Some Pakistani textile manufacturers are currently planning to move their factories to Bangladesh and India.