Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razaq Dawood has urged exporters to aggressively focus on capturing a larger share of international exports.
Abdul Razaq Dawood said this while chairing a consultative meeting via video link to review the provisional trade data till the month of January 2021.
He was informed that exports in January 2021 have increased by 8 percent percent to US $2,135 million as compared to US $1,978 million in January 2020. He was informed that this is the first time in the last eight years that exports have crossed the $ 2billion mark for four consecutive months. Dawood advised the officials of the Ministry of Commerce that much more needs to be done. He paid rich tributes to Pakistan’s exporters for this performance during difficult times despite the Covid-19 pandemic and contraction in Pakistan’s major markets. The advisor was briefed that in January 2021, an increasing trend has been witnessed in the export of value-added and non-traditional products. The exports of jerseys & cardigans increased by 72 percent, pharmaceutical by 55 percent, T-shirts by 43 percent, plastics by 24 percent, women’s garments by 21 percent, home textiles by 19 percent, textile made-up by 11 percent, men’s garments by 8 percent and rice by 7 percent as compared to January 2020.
He was also informed that a decreasing trend was noted in export of mostly non-value-added products. The exports of maize decreased by 82 percent, raw leather by 23 percent, cotton yarn by 11 percent, cotton fabric by 14 percent and meat by 5 percent as compared to January 2020.
The meeting was informed that geographically, in January 2021 exports increased to Canada (43 percent), Australia (42 percent), the United States (36 percent), South Africa (27 percent), China (21 percent), the United Kingdom (21 percent), Belgium (18 percent), and Saudi Arabia (14 percent). While there was a decrease in exports to Jordan (-68 percent), Senegal (-59 percent), Italy (-24 percent), Turkey (-21 percent), Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (-19 percent each). The 7-months’ performance of exports was also discussed in the meeting. The advisor was informed that the provisional export data for the period July-January 2020-21 showed that the exports increased by 5.5 percent, to US $14,245 million as compared to US $13,507 million during the same period last year. During July-January 2020-21, the exports of value-added and non-traditional products increased especially for tents & canvas (49 percent), jerseys & cardigans (37 percent), pharmaceuticals (28 percent), cutlery (27 percent), socks & stockings (26 percent), women’s garments (22 percent), home textiles (17 percent) and textile made-ups (9 percent) as compared to the same period last year.
