Pakistan’s textile and apparel export value declined by 20 per cent in September 2022.The export value was lower than the monthly average of this year for three consecutive months, and the year-on-year growth is very likely to turn negative next month.

Pakistan’s pure cotton yarn export volume was down 25 per cent year-on-year. This year, the thin exports of Pakistan’s yarn were opposite to its strong textile and apparel exports, and the reduced demand from the Chinese market was the main cause for the decline in cotton yarn exports. Recently, Pakistan’s cotton prices remained relatively stable, so the downward trend of cotton yarn offers was not obvious, and the offers in Pakistan were higher than spot prices in China’s local market for a long time.

The production of Pakistan’s siro-spun yarn continues to drop, and its dependence on the Chinese market kept decreasing.In September, Pakistan's cotton import volume did not continue to increase as expected, but fell slightly.

The delay in the shipping of US cotton to Pakistan this month led to a low overall arrival volume. At the same time, as US cotton prices moved down in fluctuations recently, a small number of defaults occurred among Pakistan’s cotton buyers. So the decline in Pakistan’s cotton imports in September reflected the easing of Pakistan's tight cotton supply to a certain extent.