16% decline in bedwear exports

The exporters hold the Government policies responsible the decline in bedwear exports during the first two months of the 2007 fiscal year.

According to official figures, the export of bedwear has dropped by 16% or $55.958 million during the first two months (July-August) of the 2007 fiscal year. It stood at $303.123 million as compared to $359.081 million during the same period of 2006 fiscal year. This regression in the export of bedwear products is obviously linked to high cost of production.

They pointed out that other regional countries, including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, had geared up to capture the world markets with their enhanced products, whereas the local manufacturers were caught by high cost of production and inconsistent Government policies. About the future investment in the bedwear manufacturing sector, they said that it had almost no future due to difficulties in sustainability of the existing units in the wake of increasing cost of production. Nobody is going to take risk by investing huge finance in this sector, which is witnessing a decline, said leading industrialist Zubair Motiwala.