Pakistan
                                                         Current Status
                  Market share:                                                              Product diversity:
                                                                                             Pakistan specializes in basic woven cotton apparel,
Pakistan ranks fourth in terms of apparel export value ($4.2 billion)                        including:
with the same global market share as Sri Lanka (see chart), although                            woven denim and chino trousers
apparel’s share of total country exports is lower at 19 percent.
                                                                                                low-priced knitwear (such as polo shirts and t-shirts)
                                                                                                fleece sweatshirts

                     China                Bangladesh 6.4%                                    Firms mostly specialize in high volume and low- to
                      41%                                                                    mid-range unit value products and have not penetrated
                                          India         3.5%                                 the high-end apparel market.
                                          Pakistan 1.2%
                     Other
                     46.7%                Sri Lanka     1.2%                                        Working conditions:
                                                                                                    Wages and working conditions are
                                                                                                    better in the formal industry than in
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has not played an important role in                                 the large cottage sector, but short
the apparel sector, with the share of foreign-owned firms estimated                                  term or temporary contracts are
to be less than 2 percent, and only slightly higher in the textile sector.                          widely used, particularly for women.
Pakistan is considered a “growth supplier” (like Bangladesh) – rather                               The September 2012 factory fire in
than a “stable supplier” (like India and Sri Lanka) – in that it has                                Karachi recently highlighted poor
increased export value and global market share since the early 1990s.                               safety standards in the country.




                             Job Potential                             Top Policy Areas
                                 How would Pakistan fare if            Factors buyers care about (cost and non-cost): Production
                                 Chinese prices/wages rose             costs and quality have always been important and have
                                 by 10 percent under                   become even more so given the stepped-up competition after
  Link Between More              current policies? For the             the end of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA) and the global
  Exports and Employment         U.S. market, apparel                  economic crisis. Stitches to Riches? highlights the following
  Demand (elasticity of jobs     employment would rise                 findings: Pakistan o ers low prices in most product categories,
  to prices)                                                           but it lags behind competitors in reliability and political stability.
                                 (thanks to higher labor
     8.93                        demand and the anticipated            Pakistan could benefit from the following policies:
            8.5
                                 increase in apparel exports),
                                                                         Increase product diversity by reducing barriers on imports so as to
                                 but for the EU market,
                                                                         ease access to manmade fibers (such as duty and tax remission for
                                 apparel employment would
                                                                         exports, and export processing zones).
                                 drop (see chart).
                                                                         Attract FDI by adopting policies to reduce red tape and increase
                                 How would this a ect
                                                                         transparency to close the gap with South Asian countries whose
                                 women's participation in the
                                                                         textile and apparel industries are located primarily on the coast.
                                 labor force? As firms
                                 demand more labor, apparel              Diversify markets by taking advantage of access to emerging markets.
                                 wages are likely to increase.           Shorten lead times by improving road infrastructure to facilitate
                                 A 1 percent increase in                 access to ports for exporting firms and by clustering strategies to
                  -0.21 -0.20    expected wages would                    provide key infrastructure and common facilities.
                                 raise the probability of                Enhance perceptions of stability as many buyers will not travel to
    U.S. Market    EU Market
                                 women entering the labor                Pakistan, which makes sourcing complicated.
    Male Employment (%)          force by 16.3 percent.
    Female Employment (%)