Total world trade of cotton-rich textile yarns (comprising ≥85% cotton) amounted to approximately US$14.6 billion in 2013. Pakistan, with exports worth about US$2.2 billion, secured a share of approximately 15% in the global trade of cotton-rich yarns. This ranking positioned Pakistan as the second-largest exporter of cotton yarns globally. India held the top spot with a commanding 33% share in the global cotton yarn trade. China followed as the third-largest exporter with a 13% share, trailed by the USA, Viet Nam, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and Korea.

According to USDA statistics, China emerged as the largest producer of cotton fiber in 2013-14, with 32 million 480 lb. bales, followed by India (29.5 million bales), USA (12.9 million bales), and Pakistan (9.5 million bales). Consequently, Pakistan held the fourth position in cotton production and the second position in cotton yarn exports in 2013.

In terms of export growth compared to the previous year, India led the list with an impressive 51.28% increase, followed by Thailand (50.92%), Viet Nam (47.1%), Indonesia (36.42%), and Uzbekistan (23.42%). Pakistan's cotton yarn exports experienced a more modest growth of 4.89% compared to the previous year, significantly lower than the overall growth rate of 9.83% in the world cotton yarn trade. Notably, Indian yarn exports exhibited a sharp increase compared to the steady growth in Pakistani yarn exports (Figure 2).

The annual growth percentages in export values from 2009 to 2013 were 33%, 14%, 36%, 30%, and 32% for India, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Korea, and Turkmenistan, respectively. Countries with higher growth rates may present a challenge to Pakistan's share in the world market in the coming years.


China was the largest importer of cotton yarns in 2013 with 43% share of imports followed by Hong Kong and Bangladesh (Figure 3). Chinese cotton yarn market has been steadily growing over the last few years, and in 2013 it recorded a growth of 40% as compared to the previous year (Figure 4). Other markets have been fluctuating at modest figures. EU28 is not a huge market for cotton yarns, and accounts for a little less than 12% of the total global demand of cotton yarns. Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) Countries comprising China, Bangladesh, Korea, Sri Lanka and India account for more than 50% cotton yarn market of the world.


The unit value of Pakistani yarn stood at US$3065/ton, which is lower as compared to that of some other competitors such as India (US$3506/ton), China (US$4903/ton) and Egypt (US$7653/ton). If we look at the figures for various yarn categories given in Table 2, it can be noticed that Pakistans major contribution of cotton yarn exports is in 520512 category, which comprises carded single yarns of coarse to medium counts (dtex). Furthermore, Pakistans export share in the combed yarn categories is also poor. By focusing more on the finer yarn counts and combed yarn categories, the unit value of Pakistani yarns may be increased in future. Since the prevalent Pakistani cotton varieties are suitable mostly for producing coarse and medium yarn counts, government policies to facilitate the import of finer long staple cotton and to incentivize the export of finer and/or combed yarn counts may help in increasing the unit value of Pakistani yarn exports.


The author is the Dean Faculty of Engineering and Technology, National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan.