Textile industry in PakistanAbstract : Importance of textile industry in pakistans economy can never be neglected, this is the industry contributing more than 8.5 % to the countrys GDP, with exporting share in economy of 60%, apart from all that the industry being labour intensive plays a key role in jobs creation in Pakistan. Statistics tell that Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton grower , and has the third largest spinning capcity in Asia. However the country being endowed with different unique blessings cannot make some difference upto the mark. Even the demand for textile goods in the world increses at an average rate of 3% a year, but still the exports of the Pakistani industry tend to be declining. Shortage of energy and political instability play a vital role in the destruction of the industry. Even there is a huge opportunity for Pakistan to export its finished textile products, still it operates for raw goods, which poses a large threat for countrys future growth. Through this short article we after analyzing the international market conditions in terms of Pakistan , will check for the causes behind those things and finally we will be coming up with some suggestions to tackle the problems. Sectors previous performance : During the last few years the sector has vitnessed different ups and downs and no consistency have been seen, if properly seen the cotton prices of Pakistan increased from 83.4 us dollors per pound to 89.7 us dollors per pound from the fiscal year 2013 to the fiscal year 2014 ( februray month statistics ) , this is mainly because of the imbalances in inventory to consumption ratio that mainly importing countries had at the time, however this short term increase in the prices can not depict the future improvements , but the point to put here is that the performance of the sector mainly depends on external factors rather than having any proper strategy of its own. Pakistan textile industry and the demand pattern of other countries : As, Pakistan is the exports oriented country in terms of textile goods, so its exports are mainly defined by the demand pattern of the other countries as well, in this case USA and the European countries are the major demand drivers, with china being the leading player in industry, pakistans competition with major players in the area that are Bangladesh, China and India is severe. Over the years the exports total share of china in the world has increased with that of Pakistan being relatively constant. Textile exports from Pakistan decreased by 10.7 % in fiscal year 2012 , whrere as the export of cotton yarn decreased by 18%. Finished goods vs raw material exported : Pakistan despite having different resources and truly capable to produce and export finished textile goods to other countries, still is considered to be a source of semi finished raw material provider to different nations who by using Pakistani raw yarn add value to these goods and sale the same goods very expensive that they buy from Pakistan at very cheaper rates. In this scenario it can also be said that Pakistan is serving other nations to earn more on its products. Problems faced by the industry : Energy crisis : producing the goods in Pakistan seems to be relatively more expensive because of energy shortages, that is why different foreign based companies mainly avoid investing in Pakistan. and if some are already operating most of them are shifting from Pakistan to Bangladesh because like Pakistan , Bangladesh also has the same cheap labour but they have relatively very low energy shortage. Political instability : inconsistent government polecies and local political intervention along with bad law and order situation also put a great question mark on future of this sector. Lack of research and development : according to experts Pakistani finished textile goods tend to be of low quality as compared to that of the other countries , and this is mainly because of poor and outdated machinery in the sector, and the lack of consumer insights in the market . Pakistani products still are of outdated fashion due to which most of the consumers avoid using them.

Suggestions for improvement in exports : A lot of cotton fiber is exported to different countries , and it is a great loss of the country to export raw material at very small price to other countries , so some polecies should be designed to minimize the export of raw material. A proper attention should be given to the consumer insights along with proper investment on research and development which can truly guaranty the future growth of this sector. Producers , producing and exporting modern finished goods should be encouraged. Foreign producers in the country should be encouraged because they not only can bring the technology with them, but also the market of Pakistani finished goods can be boosted up.