Exporters receiving heavy orders: PTEA official

Pakistani textiles make mark in German exhibition.

FAISALABAD: With a warm response on the opening day of the world’s largest home textile event in Germany, Pakistani exporters are expecting heavy orders as they take part in the exhibition titled, “Heimtextil”.

Exporters are anticipating foreign orders worth $70 to $80 million. Expressing high hopes, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Chairman Sohail Pasha and Vice Chairman Rizwan Riaz, said that although this year, Pakistani exhibitors are less in number than the previous years; they have received a positive response from international buyers.

Heimtextil – the biggest international trade fair for home textiles and a global benchmark for quality design textiles of innovative functionality – has great importance for Pakistani textile exporters as retailers around the globe visit the fair for new fashion trends and to place their orders for the coming spring season, he said.

World’s renowned departmental stores such as Wal-Mart and JC Penney also stock their inventories through this exhibition.

Pakistan is a major participant of the Heimtextil for the past few years earning millions of dollars in foreign exchange every year by getting export orders through the event.

This year about 220 textile exporters of home textile bed-wear and towel manufactures have displayed their products in the exhibition making Pakistan the fourth largest exhibitor country in the event.

PTEA Chairman termed GSP Plus status as a great edge for Pakistani textiles and said that the facility has provided great support to exporters enabling them to compete with regional rivals in the international market.

At the opening day of the exhibition, Pakistani exporters seemed confident, while rival exporters failed to receive the desired response. However, Chinese exporters are the main competitors, giving Pakistan a tough time, he added.

“Despite deceptive propaganda that Pakistani exporters could not fulfill their export commitment on time due to energy shortage, Pakistani textiles have received positive response from the buyers,” he said.

We have introduced new designs and products to our customers for quality checking and they were interested in placing new orders, he added.

“Our home textile export, which stood at around $3 to $4 billion annually greatly depends on this exhibition and exporters are hopeful to get huge export orders from this event.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2015.

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