巴基斯坦服装业“严重表现不佳”

Pak garment sector 'grossly underperforming'
Although garment sector exports have increased over the years and it has been the best performing segment of thetextilevalue chain, the sector is grossly underperforming relative to its potential, according to a study commissioned by the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) and conducted by the Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR).
Pakistan lags behind its competitors in the global share inexportof garments. In 2017, Pakistan’s share in the exports of garments was a meagre 1.10 per cent compared to China’s 32.06 per cent, Bangladesh’s 7.66 per cent, Vietnam’s 5.94 per cent, and India’s 3.81 per cent, the study found.
The primary reason for this poor performance is the narrow export base, which is tilted towards low value-added unsophisticated items. The top six products exported by Pakistan account for 52.0 per cent of Pakistan’s exports, but only 20 per cent of total world garment exports, a PBC press release said citing the study findings.
World demand has been shifting to man-made fibre, which Pakistan has been unable to exploit. In addition, Pakistan’s garment exports are not well diversified in terms of destinations. Almost 88.0 per cent of garment exports are destined for the European Union and the United States.
The study was commissioned as part of PBC’s Make-in-Pakistan initiative, which aims at reversing the premature de-industrialisation of Pakistan, promoting jobs and exports of value-added products, and raising revenues.
Pakistan’s underperformance in exports can be attributed to a number of factors, divided into supply side, demand side and investment climate constraints.
Pakistan faces higher production costs and lower productivity compared to its peers. High production costs are in the form of import duty oncottonand man-made fibres, high energy tariffs and minimum wage. This has led to fierce competition with other low-wage competitors leading to small export orders for Pakistan, according to the study.
Pakistan faces unfavourable tariffs in garment exports in the international market like ASEAN, which restricts market access, and its currency in the recent past was overvalued with respect to the US dollar, making exports less competitive against China, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Other impediments include poor access to credit, delay in the payment of government-announced tax refunds, low technological adoption, and time-consuming export procedures.
译文如下：
巴基斯坦服装业“严重表现不佳”
尽管多年来巴基斯坦服装行业的出口有所增加，它一直是纺织价值链中表现最好的，但是该行业相对于其潜力正严重表现不佳，根据由巴基斯坦商业协会委托，由政策研究发展联盟执行的一项研究显示。
巴基斯坦在全球服装出口的份额上落后于竞争对手。该研究发现，2017年，巴基斯坦在服装出口中所占份额仅为1.10%，而中国为32.06%，孟加拉国为7.66%，越南为5.94%，印度为3.81%。
这种糟糕表现的主要原因是出口基础狭窄，倾向于低附加值的简单产品。巴基斯坦商业协会的一份新闻稿援引上述研究结果称，巴基斯坦出口的前六大产品占该国出口的52.0%，但仅占全球服装出口总额的20%。
世界需求一直在转向人造纤维，而巴基斯坦一直无法利用这种材料。此外，巴基斯坦的服装出口目的地也不是很多样化。几乎88.0%的服装出口是面向欧盟和美国的。
这项研究是商业协会“巴基斯坦制造”计划的一部分。该计划旨在扭转巴基斯坦过早的去工业化进程，促进就业和增值产品出口，并提高收入。
巴基斯坦出口表现不佳可归因于若干因素，分为供应方面、需求方面和投资环境方面的限制。
与其他国家相比，巴基斯坦面临着更高的生产成本和更低的生产率。高昂的生产成本表现为棉花和人造纤维的进口税、高能源关税和最低工资。根据这项研究，这导致了与其他低工资竞争对手的激烈竞争，导致巴基斯坦的出口订单减少。
巴基斯坦在东盟(ASEAN)等国际市场上的服装出口面临不利关税，东盟限制了巴基斯坦的市场准入。巴基斯坦货币在最近一段时间内相对美元升值，使其出口产品对中国、印度、孟加拉国和越南的竞争力下降。
其他障碍包括难以获得信贷、政府宣布的退税延迟支付、采用较旧的技术以及耗时的出口程序。