Pakistan’s textiles were overly burdened with duties, high cost inputs and inflationary credit finance, said Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Chairman Arif Tauseef. He said that Research and development support extended recently by the government to home textiles and made-ups sector is basically intended to boost exports of the country. But this is not the real solution to the problem. The real problem is that exporters are facing tough competition in international market from rival countries’ exporters. Pakistan’s exports are comparatively costlier due to high cost of production in the country.

The cost of inputs like gas, electricity and credit finance were comparatively higher in Pakistan and hence Pakistan’s exports were in-competitive in international market. It was for this reason that the country’s exports did not fare well in the quota phase-out regime and a declining trend started when fabrics’ exports in July 2006 plummeted to $154 million from $207 million of November 2005.

The PTEA Chairman said that in the new world trade regime, financial support and subsidies on exports were of no real avail as the benefit was either passed on to the foreign buyers or was wiped out by other factors. The real solution is to reduce cost of inputs like gas and electricity to provide level playing field to Pakistani exporter’s visa-a-vis their rival countries’ exporters and thus make them competitive in international market. Protective duties on polyester, dyes and chemicals charged to exporters are another burden on exports making them in-competitive. Impact of these duties in cost-pub is about 8%. He urged the government to return this levy on exports.