ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textile exports, a key source of foreign exchange for the cash-strapped country, fell 12 percent year-on-year in September, extending a streak of declines that started a year ago, data from an industry body showed on Wednesday.

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) reported $1.35 billion in textile exports in September, down from $1.53 billion last year.

In the first three months of the current fiscal year, which began in July, textile exports went from $4.59 billion in the same time last year to $4.12 billion. This is a 10% drop.

Pakistan's textile industry, which makes up more than 60% of all exports, has been having a hard time because of a number of problems, such as high energy costs, trouble getting bank loans, and delays in refunding sales tax and other fees. These things have hurt the sector's ability to make money and produce goods.

Since October 2022, this important part of the economy's export gains have been going down by double digits every month.

The amount of textiles exported fell by 15.23% in October 2022, 18.15% in November, 16.47 % in December, 14.8 % in January, 29.9 % in February, 22.6 % in March, 29.1 % in April, 19.57 % in May, and 13.7 % in June.

In the same way, it fell by 11.4% in July 2023 (the first month of the current fiscal year), 6.75% in August 2023, and now by 12% in September 2023 compared to the same months last year.

According to the APTMA data, during the first nine months of the calendar year 2023, the country's textile exports experienced a significant 18 percent decrease, totaling $11.90 billion, down from $14.53 billion in the corresponding period of 2022.

Over the previous month’s (August) exports of $1.46 billion, the sector’s sales abroad declined by 8.15 percent in September 2023.

Total textile exports dropped by 14.6% to $16.5 billion in the previous fiscal year (July–June 2022-23), compared to the record high of $19.35 billion reached in FY2021-22. The value of exports in FY21 was $15.4 billion.

Even though the textile industry wasn't doing well, Gohar Ejaz, who is both the trade minister and the patron-in-chief of APTMA, was positive about the future. He said this was because cotton production and arrivals were up this year.

He said that Pakistan had received more than five million bales of cotton on October 1, which was 34% more than a year ago. This was made possible by the hard work of farmers and the cotton business. In addition, Ejaz set a high goal for textile exports this fiscal year: $25 billion, up from $16 billion the previous year.