Textile industry could earn additional USD3bn exports: APTMA

LAHORE: The newly elected chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), Asad Shafi, has said the country’s textile industry could earn an additional USD3 billion in exports this year and USD10 billion more over the next two to three years, provided it gets a competitive and predictable business environment.

Speaking after taking charge, Shafi said his first priority would be to work with the government and industry stakeholders to expand value-added exports, investment and jobs.

He noted that Pakistan is among the few countries with a complete textile value chain, from fibre to fashion, spanning spinning, weaving, processing, finishing, garments, apparel, and home textiles. APTMA, he said, would aim to use the full strength of this domestic chain to export more finished, value-added goods, since a higher share of local inputs means more employment, investment and foreign exchange stays in the country.

Shafi said Pakistan has already made progress, with over 80 percent of textile exports now consisting of value-added consumer products such as apparel and home textiles.

The next step, he said, is to capture more of the value created after goods leave the factory. Manufacturing typically accounts for less than 30 percent of an apparel item’s final retail value, with the rest generated through design, product development, branding, marketing and retail. “Pakistan must therefore build on its manufacturing strength by developing stronger linkages between its manufacturers and brands,” he said, adding that this means helping Pakistani brands expand abroad and enabling manufacturers to build their own brands and retail channels. To that end, APTMA is widening its membership beyond spinners, weavers and value-added manufacturers to include major Pakistani textile and apparel brands and retailers, bringing the whole value chain onto one platform.

Shafi said, “This is the next frontier for Pakistan’s textile exports. We should not only manufacture a product in Pakistan; we should increasingly design it, brand it, market it and sell it internationally as well.”

Shafi urged the government to ease foreign exchange and regulatory restrictions that hinder investment in overseas warehousing, distribution, marketing and retail, and to put in place an enabling framework for e-commerce and retail-oriented shipments.

He said export growth would be possible only if Pakistan’s cost of doing business matched that of competing economies. He called for industrial electricity at 7 cents per kilowatt-hour, gas at USD7 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) and financing at 7 percent per annum.

The APTMA chairman also demanded restoration of the Duty Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) support for exporters, along with immediate steps to ease liquidity, including quick payment of pending sales tax, income tax and other refunds.

“Pakistan does not need to build an export industry from scratch,” he said, pointing to decades of accumulated manufacturing expertise, a large skilled workforce, and ties with international buyers and substantial installed capacity. Pakistani firms, he added, already make sophisticated products for some of the world’s most demanding brands.

With competitive energy and financing costs, adequate liquidity and policies that encourage investment and overseas expansion, Shafi said, the industry could raise exports substantially from existing capacity in the near term while investing for the next phase of growth.

He said APTMA would work closely with the government during his tenure to draw up a practical roadmap to raise exports, strengthen every segment of the value chain, attract investment and build a stronger global presence for Pakistani textile manufacturers and brands.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026