According to Pakistan’s Textile Minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema, the country’s 2007-08 target for textile exports is over $13 billion, up 20% compared with $11 billion this year.

Textile exports for the first eleven months of the year (May 2006 to July 2007) increased 6% to total $9.8 billion compared with $9.3 billion in the prior-year period with almost all sectors, with the exception of raw cotton, cotton cloth, and nightwear, recording marginal growth.

Readymade garment exports grew 5.35% to $1.3 billion during the period from $1.2 billion in the same period last year and knitwear increased 12.9% to $1.8 billion from $1.6 billion. Cotton yarn was up 4.2%, while non-cotton yarn rose an impressive 82.6%.