Important Industries of Pakistan

by MairaS on February 2, 2011

in Economy of Pakistan
The industrial sector of Pakistan accounts for almost 24% of the GDP. The largest industry
in the country is cotton textile and apparel accounting for almost 66% of the exports and
about 40% of the employed labour. The other major industries include cement, edible oil,
fertilizers, steel, tobacco, chemical, sports goods, machinery and food processing.
The Government is trying to diversify the industrial base and improve our export capacity.
Privatization of parastatal units is being done on a large scale and growth has accelerated
in the overall industrial output.
Lets take a look at the important industries of the country.
Cotton Industry of Pakistan
Cotton industry is the leading industry of Pakistan. We are not only self sufficient in fulfilling
the local demands of cotton goods but are also exporting to other countries and earn foreign
exchange through this sector. Due to the perfect climate and soil 1.3 million out of 5 million
farmers in Pakistan cultivate cotton. On the average around 30 to 40 percent of the cotton is
consumed locally and the rest is exported in raw or finished form to many countries of the
world.
In the past most of the raw cotton was exported but now more emphasis is being given on
the export of finished products as value added commodities bring in much more earnings
for the country. Pakistan earns 55% of its foreign exchange through exports of raw cotton,
cotton yarn, cloth and garments and other cotton products, which together make up about
70% of Pakistans total exports per year.
Pakistan is the 5th largest producer of cotton, 3rd largest exporter of raw cotton, 4 th largest
consumer of cotton and the largest exporter of cotton yarn.
Cotton industry has four main processes, including:
1.
Ginning: Cotton lint is separated from the seeds.
2.
Spinning: Cotton fibres are turned into yarn.
3.
Weaving: Cotton yarn is woven into cloth.
4.
Garment-manufacturing: The woven cloth is finally given shape of clothes.
Pakistan has shown remarkable growth in the production of cotton products. Spinning
industry has shown great improvements in its production during last five years and an
increase in its capacity from 5.27M.spindles and 77000 rotors in 1990 to 8.63M spindles
and 132000 rotors in 1995. Same is with the production of yarn; it also showed an increase
in its production from 1055.23M.K.Gs in 1990 to 1415.20M.K.Gs in 1995.

Currently there are 493 textile units working in Pakistan, out of which 53 are composite
units, 410 are the spinning mills and 30 are the waste spinning units. There are around 700
spindles, 27,000 looms in the mills sector, and 250,000 in the non mills sector, 700 knitwear
units, 4000 garments units, 650 dyeing and finishing units and around 1000 ginneries.
These units are mostly in the Province of Punjab. Large numbers of textile mills are also
present in and around Karachi, as it is a metropolitan city and have a sea port with
transportation being much simpler than other cities. Other main cities for this sector are
Faisalabad and Hyderabad and both have mills close to the cotton producing areas.
Cotton industry is facing many problems that include inconsistent production of cotton crop,
improper system of stabilizing the prices of cotton and yarn, lack of timely modernization of
the industrial machineries, lack of skilled labour and the most prominent current problem is
load shedding of electricity and natural gas. Pakistan is also facing a decline in the
production of cotton in the last 4-5 years and the local consumption is increasing as
compared to India whose production gained prominent increase in the same period.
It is also facing a recession phase because of its prices. It is under a fierce competition with
the countries with low cost prices as Pakistani products are comparatively high in price due
to high cost of electricity, instable political and financial circumstances and untimely
changes in the terms and conditions of exports.