Islamabad—Country’s textile exports surged by 20.70 percent during the first quarter of the current financial year as against the same period of last year. The overall textile exports during July-September (2010-11) were recorded at US$ 2.917 billion against the exports of US$ 2.417 billion during July- September (2009-10) according to data provided by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) on Wednesday.

The textile products witnessing positive growth included cotton cloth, exports of which increased by 22.88 percent by going up from US$ 432.974 million in 2009-10 to US$ 532.035 million during the current year, the data revealed.

Other items witnessing positive growth in exports included cotton yearn (2.08 percent), yarn other than cotton yarn (14.36 percent), knitwear (15.79 percent), bed wear (14.73 percent) towels (12.12 percent), readymade garments (38.83 percent), art, silk and synthetic textile (142.41 percent), madeup articles (26.72 percent) where as the export of other textile products increased by 84.27 percent during the period. Textile products that witnessed negative growth included raw cotton, exports of which decreased by 82.80 percent.

Similarly exports of cotton carded or combed decreased by 97.38 percent and exports of tents, canvas and tarpaulin declined by 38.67 percent, the FBS figures revealed. On the other hand, textile exports during September 2010 decreased by 4.77 percent when compared to the exports of August 2010. Exports in October 2010 were recorded at US$ 942.368 million against the exports of US$ 989.568 during August 2010. As against the exports of US$815.807 million in September 2009, the exports during the same month of current year increased by 15.51 percent, according to the data.—