Pakistan is the fourth largest of the world’s 70 cotton growing countries and produces around 2m tons of raw cotton a year. The main characteristic of Pakistani cotton varieties is its fibre strength, which is among the best in the world.

Cotton remains a primary raw material for the textile industry in Pakistan, accounting for more than 70% of the total production cost. Massive investments in the country’s textile industry during the past decade have increased annual cotton requirements to 2.7m tons.

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For the past several years, Pakistan has been importing more than 600,000 tons of cotton a year from a number of countries to meet the growing industrial demand for raw cotton.

Importance and structure
The textile industry is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, contributing around 46% of the country’s manufacturing sector, 9% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 53% of total merchandise export receipts, and providing direct employment to around 2.5m people, or 38% of manufacturing sector employment. Moreover, the contribution of the textile industry to the national economy is even more vital in view of its substantial backward linkages to the agriculture sector.

Pakistan’s textile industry possesses modern spinning, weaving and, lately, finishing and processing technologies. The country has 1,221 cotton ginning factories providing cotton to 471 spinning plants with a capacity of 11.3m spindles and more than 200,000 open-end rotors; some 50% of spindle capacity is less than seven years old. The weaving sector comprises 24,000 shuttle-less looms, 6,000 air-jet looms and 300,000 power looms.

The downstream sectors of dyeing, printing, finishing, and garment production, with a fabric processing capacity of 4.6bn square metres, includes around 4,000 clothing units and 450,000 sewing machines producing 650m garments annually, as well as 53m kg of terry towels, 32m kg of canvas and 400m units of knitwear from 18,000 knitting machines.

  • Knitwear garments
    Pakistan’s knitwear sector, which comprises 18,000 knitting machine, is the leading growth sector in the entire textile chain with a growth potential estimated at around 12% a year over the next five years, which would allow it to fetch more than US$5bn in foreign exchange by 2014.
  • Woven ready-made garments
    There are as many as 450,000 industrial sewing machines installed in this sector. Most of these manufacturers are small household units having 50-300 machines each.

    Pakistan’s garment Industry provides the highest value addition. However, a lack of trained personnel has become a serious bottleneck to the growth of this sector.

    The industry enjoys the facilities of duty drawback up to 3% of the free on board (FOB) value.

  • Total number of textile and apparel workers: 2.5m.
  • Total number of garment factories: 4,000 woven garment units, 700 knitted garment units.
  • Location of factories: Karachi, Faisalabad, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Sialkot, Multan districts.
  • Source of workers: Mostly young school dropouts. Labour productivity is far too low, lack of training.
  • Main woven apparel products: Jeans, jeans jackets, cargo and carpenter pants, shorts, shirts, pyjamas, dress pants, capri pants, blouses (men, woman and children).
  • Main knit apparel products: Polo shirts, fleece jackets, sweatshirts, T-shirts, jogging suits, others.
  • Contribution of textile and apparel exports to Pakistan’s total exports: Pakistan exported US$10.244bn worth of textile and apparel worldwide in the 12-month period from July 2009 to June 2010. This accounted for 53% of the country’s total exports of US$19.382bn during the year.
  • Minimum wage for textile and apparel workers effective from 1 July 2010: The minimum wage for entry level unskilled workers is PKR7,000 (US$82) per month.
  • Implementation of minimum wage: Most factories pay less than the minimum wage.
  • Annual wage increments: Most factories ignore increments.

Sources: Textile Commissioners Organization, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association and other research.