It is reprted that after remaining depressed since the beginning of current financial year, the export of textile products finally registered growth in November by depicting the increase of 26.90 percent compared to same month of last financial year.

It also depicted a growth of 10.34 percent in November of the current financial year, compared to the preceding month of October of 20006-07, the latest data released by Federal Bureau of Statistics suggested on Friday.

However, the export of textile products in the first five months (Jul-Nov) of 2006-07 were slightly down by 1.12 percent compared to the corresponding period of previous year.

Despite the slight decline in first five months of 2006-07, the export of textile products in month of November only is encouraging, which argues well for the future exports, analysts of foreign trade opined and noted that it indicates that export of textile products has started recovering from turbulent time, it has been facing since the beginning of the current financial year. The export of textile products stood at $864.93 million in November of 2006-07, compared to $783.88 million in same month of last financial year and $681.57 million in October of the current financial year. The textile products export stood at $4.192 billion in Jul-Nov period of 2006-07 compared to $4.239 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The official statistics showed that export major textile categories, which under performed in first four months, recovered and posted gains in November 2006-07 except cotton cloth. The export of bedwear, knitwear, cotton yarn, readymade garments and art, silk and synthetic textile posted gains in this November compared to same period of the previous year.

According to an analyst, the export of textile products should have been registered more gains in view of textile package and research & development (R&D) support, the government announced. “A lot has to be done to sustain this export growth trend because the genuine concerns of textile industry are still to be addressed properly like high cost of production, which is making the country’s textile products uncompetitive in the international market, where its competitors China, India and Bangladesh have a competitive edge because of supplying cheap textile products,” he said.

The break-up of export of textile products figures suggests that the export raw cotton increased by 5.19 percent and 13.46 percent in November this compared to November of last year and October of current financial year respectively.

The export of cotton cloth, which was in billion dollar export category in the last financial year, posted a gain of 16.07 percent in the month under review compared to October of 2006-07, however declined by 3.57 percent compared to November of 2005-06. The export of knitwear, which also ranked in the billion dollar export category in financial year 2005-06 recorded a substantial increase of 37.13 percent in the said month compared to the same month of the previous year. The export of bedwear, which neared to $ 2 billion in the last financial year also reflected a growth in November 2006-07 by posting a gain of 23.24 and 15.12 percent compared to November 2005-06 and October of this year.

The export of readymade garments increased by 11.48 per cent in fifth month of this year compared to same month of previous year. The export of towel increased by 32.13 percent.

The export of made-up articles (excluding towels, bedwear) increased by 26.34 per cent whereas cotton carded decreased by 81.09 percent.

The export of cotton yarn, which continued to post gain since the start of 2006-07 also recorded a growth of 9.48 percent in November this compared to the same month of previous year.

In other export categories, food group posted a negative growth of 4.15 percent in first five months compared to corresponding period of previous year and declined by 2.98 percent in November only compared to the same month of previous year, however rice export was up by 21.21 percent in first five months of 2006-07.

The export of Petroleum group and coal declined by almost five percent in Jul-Nov this compared to same period of previous year, however it rose by 17.75 percent in November this over same month of previous year. The export in the manufacturing group other than textile also decreased by 22.00 percent in the first five months and 14.24 percent in November only.