Pakistan lost $6 million worth of textile market in Japan during 2006

Pakistan has lost market of more than $6 million during last calendar year due to high cost and low quality of textile products in Japan, said Seiji Kojima, Ambassador of Japan, while addressing business leaders at Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).

He said Pakistani textile products have failed to compete with that of India and China, hence India has been able to capture some of the textile market in Japan, which was previously held by Pakistan.

Trade volume of two countries has increased from $501 million in 2001 to $1.8 billion in 2006. But the volume of export from Pakistan has not seen any improvement since 1991, when it reached $650 million and it declined to $209 in 2006.

The volume of Pakistan's exports to Japan has kept on declining since 1996 to 2003 and Pakistan has lost the market of $458 million and annual export figure declined to $134 million. He asked the corporate sector of Pakistan to work hard in improving competitiveness and increasing its value-added economy and stay innovative and move up the technological ladder.