Pakistan’s resilient textile industry despite insurmountable odds has been showing consistent signs of recovery as the exports registered a growth of 7.04% during the first ten months of current fiscal year. The country’s textile exports reached to $8.461 billion during July-April (2009-10) from $7.905 billion during July-April (2008-09), according to the data of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).

 While exports of cotton yarn increased by 32.13%, exports of yarn other than cotton surged by 103.53%. Also the exports of towels increased by 4.83% , tents, canvas and tarpaulin by 5.95%, readymade garments by 5.21%, art, silk and synthetic textiles by 66.94%, made-up articles (excluding towels, bead wear) by 10.79% whereas the exports of other textile products increased by 31.27%. The exports of  knitwear and bed wear were practically at the same level showing less than 1% decline.  This also is indicative of the stability of the market as these important sectors now appear to stabilise after facing very difficult times.

This growth is a welcome change from the pessimism of the last 12 months.  As the global economy continues to recover from the unprecedented recession so do the economies such as Pakistan that are dependent upon exports to the developed markets such as the USA and Europe.  The Heimtextil brought the first wave of good news this year when a record participation of Pakistani home textile manufactures fared well. A most positive aspect for these manufacturers was a visible relief from the price pressure from their buyers.

On the other hand leading manufacturers such as Artistic Milliners and Artitistic Denim Mills made their mark in the highly competitive Premier Vision show in Paris earlier this year.  This show only allows display of the very best of the fabrics for the apparel industry and until recently was restricted only to the best European fabric manufacturers.  The fact that Pakistan was represented in this very important show indicates the progress  our industry particularly in niche sectors, such as Denim have made over the years.  The denim fabrics produced today in Pakistan are of the highest quality and meet the international standards for fashion garments. Exports of denim fabrics have shown consistent growth in the last four years from 45 million sq metres in 2005-2006 to 118 million sqm in 2008-9.

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High hopes for ITMA ASIA + CITME

The ITMA ASIA CITME 2010 is taking place at an opportune time.  The mood of the global industry is buoyant and the consumers are once again thronging the shopping malls and centres in the US and Europe.  The financial crisis in the Eurozone and the falling Euro is a point of concern for some but at the same time it is also a boon for the European textile machine manufacturers who, with the lower Euro are able to compete much better with Far Eastern manufacturers. 

On the other hand the Chinese machinery manufacturers are constantly striving to improve the quality of their machines and to meet the stringent requirements of today.  For Pakistan which has always been a strong market for European textile machinery, Chinese machinery is making more sense now than ever.  Many European manufacturers have partly or wholly shifted their production to China to cater to the growing Chinese market and to benefit from economies of scale have as a consequence improved the overall image of Chinese built machinery.

The Chinese Government is giving full emphasis on the the environmental issues and setting ever higher standards for emissions and energy conservation.  Particularly the previous range of dyeing and finishing machines, have no future in the China.  This is a significant shift of policy for the Chinese who have realised that they will have to compete in terms of quality rather than price alone.  As the cost of production in China keeps rising the shift to high tech and clean industry will mean greater opportunities for countries such as Pakistan who are in basic textiles.  These countries in turn will also be the key buyers of high quality textile machinery  and equipment from China. 

ITMA ASIA CITME is a joint venture of Chinese and European textile machinery manufacturers who have realised that their survival is delicately linked with each other.  This exhibition will be particularly interesting as a show of the best of the technology that China has to offer against European textile technology.