Over $ 11 Billion Worth Cotton Products Exports Registered In

ISLAMABAD,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -29th Sep,2016) : Minister for Commerce Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan said Thursday the country exported cotton products worth $11 billion during 2015-16. Replying to a question during question-hour in the Senate, he said cotton related products comprised raw cotton, cotton yarn, cotton cloth, cotton carded or combed, knitwear, bed wear, towels, tents, canvas and tarpaulin and readymade garments.

He said it was a fact that export of cotton products had decreased during the last three years and the reasons of decline included inconsistency in yield of cotton crop, rising cost of business, shrinking global demand and decrease in cotton prices in the market.

He said several steps had been to enhance exports of cotton products including a sector specific international exhibition of textile products, TEMPO 2016, that had been organized by Trade Development Authority of Pakistan for the first time in April this year.

He said the government had reduced the electricity tariff by Rs 3 for the industrial units with effect from 1st January 2016 in order to reduce cost of doing, business, adding the availability of affordable finance for the export sector had considerably improved.

The State Bank of Pakistan, he added, had further reduced the discount rate which currently stands at 6 percent, adding the Export Finance Rate currently at 3.5 percent was the lowest in a decade especially for textile sector.

He also said under Textile Policy 2015-19, an amount of Rs. 64.15 billion would be spent on the textile sector to double the exports of textiles and clothing sector from the existing US$ 13 billion to US$ 26 billion by the year 2019.

He said trade facilitation oriented measures at Taftan point at Pakistan-Iran boarder and work on entry gate was almost complete, which will help give impetus to trade activities.