Hosiery, knitwear exports: Rising costs put foreign orders at risk

Pakistan's hosiery and knitwear exporters are finding it harder to keep foreign orders, according to Business Recorder, as higher production and freight costs, costly energy, tight liquidity and stronger regional competition narrow their margins. The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) has warned that buyers can now move sourcing to rival destinations offering lower costs, dependable supplies and quicker delivery. It has called for urgent government action to protect export competitiveness and the sector's share of overseas markets.

PHMA Central Chairman Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain has asked the Commerce Ministry to convene a consultative meeting with the Finance Ministry, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other departments. He said the industry faces very high manufacturing costs, steep freight charges, expensive power with outages, heavy taxes and tight liquidity. Freight rates to some destinations have risen 1.5 to 2.5 times, leaving exporters to either absorb the extra cost or pass it to buyers and lose price appeal.

PHMA has proposed temporary Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) support of 6 to 8 per cent of FOB value per shipment. It also wants banks to apply the 4.5 per cent Export Financing Scheme rate uniformly, as some exporters still face higher costs.