Pakistan's apparel sector attracts $5bn investment in few years: Ambassador Masood Khan

March 12, 2024 (MLN): During the last few years, Pakistan's apparel sector has attracted approximately $5 billion of fresh local investment for expansion, including imports of around $2.2bn worth of new machinery from 2019 to 2023, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan stated.

He made these remarks during a public hearing by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on the export competitiveness of the apparel industries in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan in the U.S market in Washington DC.

“Individual companies in Pakistan are adopting advanced traceability technologies to consciously champion supply chain transparency in alignment with global requirements,” he added.

The Ambassador said under the Net Zero Pakistan Initiative, leading apparel companies are committed to accelerating the transition to sustainability and delivering Net Zero goal by 2050.

He also highlighted that the United States is the largest export destination for Pakistan.

Pakistan has a 3.3% share of the US market in the textiles and apparel segment, however, all the exports of apparel products are subject to applicable MFN tariffs of up to 38.3% as Pakistan does not enjoy preferential access to the US market.

The Ambassador pointed out that Pakistan is the fifth largest cotton producer in the world and it is making concerted endeavors to increase cotton productivity and transition towards sustainable development.

He further highlighted that Pakistan followed a liberal investment regime that offered conducive environment to attract foreign and local investors.

The sector, therefore, can ramp up the scale of apparel manufacturing further.

Masood Khan said that Pakistan’s customer base is diverse, and many prominent U.S enterprises and retailers, most of them Fortune 500, are already sourcing their products from Pakistan.

He said Pakistani apparel exporters look forward to reinforcing the strong historical trade relations between the two countries.

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