Growth of Cotton Textile Industry in Pakistan Vis-a-Vis Value Addition

In developing, predominantly agricultural economies like Pakistan, the importance of industry lies in the additional employment, foreign exchange earning through exportable goods and improve balance of payments by substituting the imports. This development stimulates then other sectors of the economy. The main problem undertaken in this study is to identify that Pakistan being an agricultural country, most of its industry is agro based. As such cotton being its main cash crop and cotton textiles being its major industry, have been of paramount importance to its economy. It contributes 60% to 65% of annual export earnings and 9% of the GNP. It is however observed that not much serious attention has been paid over the years on the production and exports of high-value added products. This study has examined those factors which have limited the desired growth in production and export of high-value added products. Through this study an attempt is made to focus upon comparative and competitive advantages in the production of cotton textiles and explore the possibilities of switching over to high-value added goods.