Karachi, Apr 18 : US’ share in Pakistan exports has dropped to 22 percent during the first half of current financial year, as compared to 26 percent in the same period last year.

But it continues to remain the single largest buyer of Pakistani products.

Pakistan exports almost all textile products to USA as well as surgical items, rice, fruits, sports goods, footwear, chemical goods, engineering items, etc. Exporters, however point out that the base of products exported to USA was confined largely to traditional textile sector and value added sector could not post higher growth during the said period, reported the Daily Times.

Analysts said that due to narrow base of Pakistani products and intense competition put up by its regional competitors, the share of local products remained stagnant to its major markets like USA and European Union (EU).

Comparative analysis of export to various parts of the world shows that export to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan only registered substantial growth as share of these two markets in overall export jumped substantially during the July-December period of current fiscal year.

UAE’ share jumped to almost ten percent during this period from 6.68 percent in the last year in total export whereas share of Afghanistan also surged to 5.79 percent from 4.96 percent during the last year.

Despite government’s pledges, country could not penetrate in the big African market as no big market was found for local products and like previous years, only South Africa was among the top 20 exporting markets, whose share in overall export also fell to 1.49 percent during first half of this fiscal year compared to 2.16 percent in the previous year. (ANI)