Pakistan – An Agro-Based Economy : Academic Study of Textiles
Pakistan – An Agro-Based Economy : Academic Study of Textiles
Pakistan has been blessed with very rich soils and fertile land, which is considered as a specialty of the Indo-Pak region. The inhabitants of the region are therefore related in large percentages, directly or indirectly, to agriculture. Around 50 % of Pakistan’s working labor force is associated with agriculture in some means, and comprises of about 24 % of the GDP.
Cotton has been one of the major crops of this region, claiming around 2922.6 thousand hectares of cultivable area.
Pakistan’s exports are mainly dependant on the cotton and cotton related products, which bring in the largest resource of foreign exchange to the country. Due to the declined production of cotton in the previous year(estimated to be down 2.0% to 9.2 million(375 lb) bales compared to 1996-97) the exports have declined very drastically. The decrease in production was due to a 8.2% fall in cultivated area compared to last year. The decline is largely attributed to
- Pest problem on cotton crop
- Increase in plantation of sugarcane due to more than 45% increase in market price of cane and
- Static cotton prices during the last 3 years. In addition the cotton crop was damaged by unprecedented rains in October1997 in the cotton growing areas of Punjab and Sindh.
A brief ranking of Pakistan as compared to other large growers of cotton in the world over the past few years is given in the table:
| Rank | 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 |
| 1 | China | China | China | China | China | China |
| 2 | USA | USA | USA | USA | USA | USA |
| 3 | Pakistan | India | India | India | India | India |
| 4 | India | Pakistan | Pakistan | Pakistan | Pakistan | Pakistan |
| 5 | Uzibekistan | Uzibekistan | Uzibekistan | Uzibekistan | Uzibekistan | Uzibekistan |
*The latest figures available are upto 1996-97.
Textile Industry-An introduction
Cotton textile production is the single most important industry ,accounting for about 18% of large-scale industrial employment. In 1947, there were only 6 spinning factories in Pakistan, which have now grown to the figure 440 ( this was 503 in 1995-96).
The textile sector comprises of about 60 % of Pakistan’s total exports. Pakistan’s textile industry produces cotton yarn, cotton cloth, made-up textiles and apparel. In order to reduce pressure on the demand for raw cotton, the polyester fiber and yarn industry has also grown significantly in recent years. Pakistan also has 12 jute mills with an installed capacity of 37,876 spindles and 1,946 looms .The industry produced 68,600 tons of jute products in 1997-98.
Various government incentives have raised the total installed capacity to 8.3 million spindles and 145,000 rotors from about 8.2 million spindles and 143,000 rotors a year earlier. Despite recent efforts to induct high speed spindles, automatic cone winders, electronic splicers and other high-tech equipment the industry still is concentrated in the preliminary stages of processing. In general, large firms concentrate on spinning and weaving leaving garment-making to highly fragmented small to medium-scale producers.
In the late 1980s, the GOP focused its industrial development resources on increasing spinning capacity; cotton yarn production rose substantially. Exports of cotton yarn in 1996-97 totaled 508 thousand tons, or $1.4 billion. The dominant products are coarse and medium count yarn. Concern about over capacity led government-owned development finance institutions (DFIs) early in 1992 to suspend new loan commitments to the spinning sector.
The spinning industry has a powerful lobby in the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA).The weaving sector took a substantial time to recover from the impact of the government policies in the mid-1970s, when large mills were broken up into smaller entities generally capable of producing only low-quality goods. In the late 1980s, boom times and easy government credit led to renewed investment in the weaving sector (2,000 high-quality shuttle less looms came on stream between 1988 and 1993). The production of cloth and made-up articles of textiles (including towels, bed sheet, and similar items) grew rapidly. Exports of cotton cloth totaled $1.2billion in 1996-97, an increase of 20% over the previous year. Knitwear has been Pakistan’s largest single segment of garment exports, but finished goods have generally lagged yarn and cloth production. The GOP has proposed a series of measures to upgrade the garment sector, including modernization of facilities, and market research and sales promotion. Ready-made garment exports in 1996-97 totaled $671 million.
Capacity of the Textile Industry:
The total installed capacity (1996-97) of textile industry (440 units) has been estimated to be (in 000).
- 8,230 Spindles
- 143 Rotors
- 10 Looms
The operative capacity breakdown is :
(in 000)
- 6,538 Spindles
- 87 Rotors
- 5 Looms
Industry Structure
The classification of textile sector on the operational basis and their classification on the stock exchanges is:
- Spinning
- Weaving
- Composite
Textile Composite:
A total of 234 textile units are listed on the KSE. Out of these 53 are textile composite units, and 153 spinning. Total paid-up capital of textile composite units is about Rs. 6,690 million with a market capitalization of about Rs. 22,840 million. Recently around 52 textile units have declared dividends after the strict policies introduced by the SECP.
Operations of Composite Sector
The operations of composite sector range from the very basic and raw yarn to highly value-added fabrics. Both the spinning and weaving are part of the composite activities.
Environmental Factors Affecting The Composite Sector
Taxation
Textile industry is subject to a number of taxes like income tax (corporate 33 %), turnover tax on local sales (0.5 %) , turnover tax on exports (1 %), sales tax, excise duty, municipal taxes & custom duties.
Government Regulations
Govt. has always realized the importance of textile sector in our economy, and has throughout supported them through rebates, subsidies and other incentives. The recent govt. has announced a number of regulations further supporting the textile sector. Again, it has been assured to keep the prices of cotton in competition with international market to discourage imports and has been heavily subsidized(around 30 %).
Market Competition
The composite market is a very competitive market both locally and internationally. In Pakistan there are around 53 composite units working. Again the 153 spinning units are also competing in the scenario. In the international market the competition mostly comes from India & China. They have been through their cheap labor and raw material, over the pasty few years able to provide more cheaper rates in the international market.
Barriers to Entry in the Textile Industry
The barriers are mostly the uncertainties involved rather than some serious hurdles. The lack of quotas, uncertain political environment, the textile crises, etc. Are some of the major reasons for others to not enter the market. Some of the other genuine reasons are lack of technical know-how and high setup costs involved.
Economic Analysis
The decline in the performance of textile sector has been assigned to the unstable economic situation through the year. The post-explosion sanctions resulted in restrictions to exports to various countries, thus decreasing the exports to some of the major importing clients. The devaluation of Pak rupee is also considered as one of the main reasons, which left Pakistani products non-competitive in the international market. At the same time, the cotton crop failure (8.8 million bales as against an expected production of 10.5 million bales) added to the plight.
Major Risks And Threats to the Industry
Unstable cotton Crop
The very first and most important risk and threat to the textile industry is the uncertainty of the cotton crop in Pakistan. In the previous year also the low production was assigned by large to the drastically low cotton yield (about 8.8 million bales as against an estimation of 10.5 million bales).
Uncertain Political Environment
The political environment has not been very certain in the past. Changing govt.s mean change of regulations and policies, which restrains the industry form long term planning and also makes the export/imports scenario suspicious.
Recession in International Market
The slow down in economic activity in the Far east has begun to adversely effect Pakistan’s textile industry in terms of exports to Japan, South Korea and other South Eastern Asian nations are undergoing a recessionary period.
Low Quality of Raw Materials
Many of the problems in the products of the spinning and the downstream industries are due to poor raw materials quality. Only about 5% of cotton crop is suitable for spinning up to count 50. Most of thee cotton grown is of thee short staple variety. It is the inferior quality of locally grown cotton that has led towards production of low count yarn.
Technological Aspects
The composite sector has been exposed to challenges of modernization and sophistication of competitors in world markets. Domestic machinery is of poor technology, scarcity of quality yarn and lack of institutional financing are also adding to its problems. The duty structure restrain the mill owners from putting in so much capital in upgrading the technology.
Market Saturation & Decreased Returns:
New markets are not being discovered and the rate of growth of yarn exports is lagging behind the rate of growth of domestic yarn consumption. Total profitability in the composite sector of the KSE has been declining. The number of listed textile companies has shown decline in profits.
Increased Competition
International as well as local market is seeing a drastic increase in the players of Textile industry. China and India has shown considerable improvement in this regard.
Devaluation and Exchange Rates
Due to the recent devaluation in number of major importers of Pakistani textile products, the exports have decreased drastically.
Power Issues
The power sector in Pakistan ahs not been very reliable over the past. Frequent load shedding and power failures have caused heavy loses to the textile industry, which is heavily dependant on the electricity. This trend has forced many units to install their own power plants thereby increasing the costs drastically.
Anti-Dumping Duties
Pakistan is under the threat of anti-dumping duty from a number of countries including some of our major importers like EU and Japan. These duties hurt Pakistan’s exports badly.
Quality Issues
Quality of the cotton products from Pakistan has been under question for long. The major problem, textile industry is facing is the non- tariff barriers like ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. These standards lay greater emphasis on packaging, safety, and handling etc.
Future Outlook
Textile sector continues to be the most important sector of Pakistan, cotton products comprising the largest part of all the exports. The problems are many and threatening. There is an ever increasing competition with other Asian manufactures, who have better quality at a lower price. There are other problems also, but the picture is not that gloomy after all. The recent development has been very encouraging in the export scenario of cotton products and is likely to improve with time. There is an increase in overall exports of the sector, 10.51 percent in seven months of 1999-2000. In the month of January 2000 textile exports marked 16.88 percent improvement which is a record growth in a month. January last was the only month during which every category of textile portrayed positive growth in the external trade.
In the first seven months textile sector earned $3,088.139 million, $293.579 million more compared with $2,794.56 million export of this sector in the corresponding period last fiscal. The cotton crop is also expected to be better this year and there signs to prove that.
So in the coming years, a positive trend in this life nerve industry of Pakistan is expected. It has to make itself competitive to survive, or else it would be left out in this struggle of international market.
Company Profiles
Burewala Textile Mills Limited
The Burewala Textile Mills Limited is a public limited company with its stocks listed at Karachi & Lahore stock exchanges. The number of shares outstanding is 7,307,405 and all are common stock. The market capitalization is Rs. 328, 833,225.
Important Information
Chairman
Ahmed Dawood
Chief Executive
- Hussain Dawood
Directors
Khawaja Amanullah
Amir Abdullah Khan Rokhri
Taj Muhammad Khanzada
Sardar Ali Khan
Dr. Mazhar-Ul-Haq
Company Secretary
Aftab Ahmed Qaiser
Auditors
Rahman Sarfaraz & Co
Chartered Accountants
Mills
Dawoodabad
Area of Operations (Products)
Burewala Textile is a unit of Apparel & Textile Industry and comes under the sub industry of Apparel Fabrics. Its product comprises of cotton yarn, yarn finishing, weaving poplins, voiles, cambric, lawn, shirting, gabardines, twills, latha and cotton. Other activity include operation of cotton ginning. The company operates solely in Pakistan.
Production Profile of the Company
The capacity profile of Burewala Textile for the past two years is given in the table below, showing both the installed & utilized capacity.
| 1997 | 1998 | |
| Yarn (kgs m.)-20 counts | ||
| Capacity (Installed) | 9.678 | 9.678 |
| Capacity (Utilized) | 4.863 | 4.278 |
| Cloth (Sq. Meters m)-50p/I | ||
| Capacity (Installed) | 9 | 9.218 |
| Capacity (Utilized) | 5.974 | 5.034 |
The spindles and Looms installed were 42,912 and 312 respectively out of which 31,100 spindles and 171 Looms worked during 1998. The under-utilization was assigned to the market limitations.
Production Facilities
The Burewala Textile is located in Dawoodabad. There is a registered office in Lahore.
The asset consists of land-freehold, buildings on freehold and leasehold land, machinery including Spindles, Looms.
Marketing
Stage in Product Life Cycle
The products are that of daily use and have a ready market. The products are in maturity stage.
Technological Aspects
As mentioned by the management the company is facing difficulty due to the high energy costs to the company. The result is decreased returns, the profit was lower than all of its major competitors last year.
Major Competitors
The major competitors of Burewala Textile in Apparel fabrics is a bit broad than only in Pakistan. It is facing competition in the local market from foreign manufactures like China who export their products to Pakistan.
Major competition includes:
- Shenzhen Textile (Holdings) Co Limited ( 1998 sales of US $ 18.52 m)
- Shanghai Sanmao Textile Co. Limited (1998 sales US $ 31.91 m)
- Kohinoor Weaving Mills Limited (1998 sales US $ 24.50 m)
Sales & Operating Performance
Burewala Textile Mills Limited reported sales of 360.10 million Pakistan Rupees (US$6.94 million) for the fiscal year ending September of 1998. This represents a decrease of 19.2% versus 1997, when the company’s sales were 445.67 million Pakistan Rupees.
On the 360.10 million Pakistan Rupees in sales reported by the company in 1998, the cost of goods sold totaled 323.65 million Pakistan Rupees, or 89.9% of sales (i.e., the gross profit was 10.1% of sales). This gross profit margin is lower than the company achieved in 1997, when cost of goods sold totaled 86.1% of sales.
Burewala Textile Mills Limited’s 1998 gross profit margin of 10.1% was lower than all three comparable companies (which had gross profits in 1998 between 25.2% and 42.1% of sales). Although sales at Burewala Textile Mills Limited fell 19.2% in 1998, the company actually increased its selling, general and administrative expenses 1.11 million Pakistan Rupees (approximately 3.9%).
Placement of Burewala Textile in the Industry
Burewala does not have a very position in its competing units. The EPS is not very high and the returns have been at the lower end of the sub-industry’s average. The decreased efficiency of the company is assigned to the increase in energy, labor cost, and imposition of sales tax.
Location of Burewala Textile
Advantages
The market for the company is mostly within Pakistan, so the location is very much suitable with lesser expenses and low exposure.
Disadvantages
Most of the composite units are in Faisalabad, which is the heart of textile in Pakistan. The location of the company leaves it a bit non-competitive in the sense that it is situated out of the heart of activities, and thus miss out many opportunities and benefits.
Objectives and Strategies
Although, operating only in Pakistan at the moment, Burewala sees a world of prospective markets internationally. Its objective to pursue the world-wide market in the longer run is very much obvious from its capability to earn the ISO 9002. It is constantly striving to improve its quality to make its products acceptable world-wide, once it enter the international market.
Stock Analysis
Burewala Textile has recently announced a dividend of 70 % to its shareholders. For the year ending 25/02/2000, the stock of this company was up 80.0% to 45 Rupees. During the past 13 weeks, the stock has increased 84.0%. During the past year, the stock of Burewala Textile Mills Limited has performed significantly worse than the three comparable companies, which saw gains between 103.9% and 361.5%.
During the 12 months ending 30/9/99, EPS totaled 4.53 Rupees per share. Thus, the Price / Earnings ratio is 9.93. These 12 month earnings are lower than the earnings per share achieved during the last fiscal year of the company, which ended in September of 1998, when the company reported earnings of 5.36 per share. Earnings per share fell 20.0% in 1998 from 1997.
This company is currently trading at 0.91 times sales. Burewala Textile Mills Limited is trading at 0.98 times book value. Since the price to book ratio is less than 1, this means that theoretically, the net value of the assets is greater than the value of a company as a going concern.
Dividend Analysis
The company has declared a dividend of 70 % again, as it had paid, on the year ending 30/9/99, dividends totaling 7 Rupees per share. Since the stock is currently trading at 45 Rupees, this implies a dividend yield of 15.6%. This company’s dividend yield is higher than the three comparable companies (which are currently paying dividends between 0.0% and 4.6% of the stock price). [4]
During the same 12 month period ended 30/9/99, the Company reported earnings of 4.53 Rupees per share. Thus, the company is paying out dividends that are higher than the earnings.
Debt Leverage
| 1997 | 1998 |
| 0.44 | 0.35 |
Future Market Profile
The prevalent scenario at the Burewala is not much encouraging with the costs increasing and at the same time a decrease in sales. The need for the company is to make itself more competitive by trying to cut back on its costs and at the same time explore newer markets for its products. A bigger market for Burewala is outside Pakistan, as it operating only in Pakistan at the moment. The company intends to explore newer fronts in the future as is obvious through its efforts to achieve and sustain globally accepted quality standards. The issuance of ISO 9002 is a milestone in this concern.
The Crescent Textile Mills Limited
An Introduction
The Crescent Textile Mills Limited is a public limited company listed at Stock exchanges, where its shares are quoted and traded. Crescent Textile was founded in 1974. The total number of outstanding shares is 38,732,722, which are all of ordinary type (common stock). Total market capitalization of Crescent Textile is Rs. 1,003,177,500.
Important information:
Chairman & Chief Executive:
Mr. Muhammad Anwar
Board of Directors:
Mr. Muhammad Anwer
Mr. Altaf M. Saleem
Mr. Humayun Mazhar
Mr. Khalid Bashir
Mr. Muhammad Arshad
Mr. Nasir Shafi
Mr. Nasim Beg (Nominee: NIT)
Corporate Secretaries:
Mr. Zaheer A. Shaikh
Mr. Rashid Sadiq
Auditors:
Riaz Ahmed & Company
Chartered Accountants
Head Office & Mills:
Sargodha Road,
Faisalabad.
Subsidiaries:
Crescent Energy Limited
Crescent Electric Supply Limited
SAC Group of Industries (proposed)
Premier Financial Services(Pvt.) Limited[6]
72 Air jet looms, Hattar
Area of Operations (Products)
Crescent Textile comes under Apparel & Textiles Industry, and is engaged in the business of spinning, weaving, and towel making. Other operations include combing, dyeing, bleaching, and printing of yarn, cloth and other fabrics made form raw cotton and synthetic fibres.
Crescent Textile markets its products both in local as well as foreign market. In 1997, 76 % of Crescent textiles sales were from textiles. The company uses both raw cotton and synthetic fibers for the manufacture of yarn.
Production Profile of the Company
The capacity (installed and utilized) and summary for the past two years is given in the table below:
| 1997 | 1998 | |
| Spinning (kgs million) | ||
| Capacity (Installed) | 29.982 | 29.982 |
| Capacity (Utilized) | 27.547 | 28.028 |
| Weaving ( m. sq. Meters) | ||
| Capacity (Installed ) | 19.616 | 24.574 |
| Capacity (Utilized) | 17.158 | 21.501 |
| Towels (kgs million) | ||
| Capacity (Installed) | 6.54 | 6.54 |
| Capacity (Utilized) | 6.35 | 6.54 |
The under utilization of the facilities was assigned to the normal maintenance of the plant.
Production Facilities
The factory is located on Sargodha Road, Faisalabad. There is a liaison office in Karachi as well. The asset line of the company consists of land-freehold, buildings on freehold and leasehold land, and factory machines (including spindles, rotors, shuttle-less looms).
Marketing
Stage in Product Life Cycle
The products (yarn, fabrics, towels) manufactured by Crescent Textile are daily use products with a very consistent market. The demand remains almost steady throughout the years with slight fluctuations at certain times , which again are easily and safely predictable.
Technological Effect
Composite industry is basically capital intensive industry with a lot of emphasis on the production machinery. The technological aspect sure has an effect on the cost and efficiency of the players. Crescent Textile has recently acquired one 5.2 MW generator to replace the standby arrangements by WAPDA, thus decreasing its fixed charges previously paid to WAPDA.
Major Competitors
Within the Apparel & Textile Sub-industry, to which Crescent Textile belongs to, there are three major competitors to it.
- Ibrahim Fibres Limited (1998 sales of 3.27 billion Pakistan Rupees)
- Bhanero Textile Mills Limited (1998 sales 1.16 billion Pakistan Rupees )
- Kohinoor Industries Limited (1998 sales 3.04 billion Pakistan Rupees )
Sales & Operating Performance
During the year ended September of 1998, sales at Crescent Textile Mills Limited were 3.61 billion Pakistan Rupees (US$69.59 million). This is a decrease of 1.8% versus 1997, when the company’s sales were 3.68 billion Pakistan Rupees. Contributing to the drop in overall sales was the 1.9% decline in Textiles, from 3.68 billion Pakistan Rupees to 3.61 billion Pakistan Rupees. . However, these declines were partially offset by the increase in sales of Cold Storage (up 27.1% to 4.96 million Pakistan rupees).
A comparison of Crescent Textile’s sales with its major competitors in the fiscal year ending September 1998 is given in the table below:
[7]Sales Comparison for 1997-98
| Company | Sales (Rs. billions) | Sales Growth |
| Crescent Textile | 3.611
|
-1.8%
|
| Ibrahim Fibres
|
3.273
|
112.5%
|
| Bhanero Textile
|
1.157
|
6.1%
|
| Kohinoor Industries
|
3.035
|
-4.4%
|
The comparison shows a decline in the sales of Crescent Textile Mills Limited over the fiscal year 1997-98. Whereas, out of the other three players two did well during the last year.
On the 3.61 billion Pakistan Rupees in sales reported by the company in 1998, the cost of goods sold totaled Rs. 3.02 billion, or 83.6% of sales (i.e., the gross profit was 16.4% of sales). This gross profit margin is lower than the company achieved in 1997, when cost of goods sold totaled 82.5% of sales.
The company’s return on equity in 1998 was 16.4%. This was a decline in performance from the 19.3% return that the company achieved in 1997. The figures in 1996-97, however, shows an increase in operating income as compared to that of 1995-96.
Theoretical Analysis of the Company
Placement of Crescent textile in the Industry
Crescent Textile is one of the most highly ranked units in the industry with very good EPS(3.8) and profitability. In the past year, however, the position has been more or less stable with negative growth in sales. This pattern is a result of overall downfall of the Textile Industry.
Location of the Company
As mentioned earlier Crescent Textile is located in Faisalabad.
Advantages:
Being located at the heart of textile industry it has various competitive advantages. The cotton crop is within easy reach, and the time for raw material availability is very short.
Again due to its location with a number of suppliers in reach the prices it gets for raw materials are very favorable.
Disadvantages:
The company as mentioned earlier is heavily dependant on exports as a big part of its sales. Being located far from the sea port, the transportation costs upto Karachi are very high. As many big players are located in the same region, it is very difficult to influence the situations and to bag extra benefits which could have been won if located at some other region with such a big capacity.
Strategic Advantages Over Others
Crescent Textile is owned by a very influential group (The Crescent group), which has significant say in the regulatory framework to protect the interests of the company.
The company has recently acquired a 5.2 MW unit for electricity arrangement, thus minimizing its dependence on WAPDA and at the same time decreasing its costs.
Objectives and Strategies of Crescent Textile
Crescent Textile has quality on a very high on its priorities which is obvious through the fact that it was the very first company in textile sector to receive ISO 9002.
The strategy is to focus more on exports through a sustained quality, as exports make a large part of companies sales, and the local market is becoming saturated. Also the company is striving to minimize its costs as the recent 5.2 MW generator is an example of its efforts towards decreased costs.
Stock Analysis
In recent years, this stock has performed terribly. In fiscal year 1994, the stock traded as high as 55.99 Pakistan Rupees, versus 25.90 Pakistan Rupees on 3/3/00.
For the year ending 3/3/2000, the stock of this company was up 212.0% to 25.90 Pakistan Rupees. During the past 13 weeks, the stock has increased 81.8%. During the 12 months ending 3/31/99, earnings per share totaled 3.80 Pakistan Rupees per share. Thus, the Price / Earnings ratio is 6.82. These 12 month earnings are lower than the earnings per share achieved during the last fiscal year of the company, which ended in September of 1998, when the company reported earnings of 4.73 per share. Earnings per share fell 2.5% in 1998 from 1997.
The company is currently trading at 0.28 times sales. Crescent Textile Mills Limited is trading at 0.80 times book value. Since the price to book ratio is less than 1, this means that theoretically, the net value of the assets is greater than the value of a company as a going concern. However, all three comparable companies are also trading at a book value of less than 1.
Dividend Analysis
For the year ending 31/3/99, Crescent Textile Mills Limited paid dividends totaling 1.25 Rupees per share. Since the stock is currently trading at 25.90 Rupees, this implies a dividend yield of 4.8%.
During the same 12 month period ended 31/3/99, the Company reported earnings of 3.80 Rupees per share. Thus, the company paid 32.9% of its profits as dividends.
Debt Leverage
| 1997 | 1998 |
| 1.68 | 1.98 |
Future Market Profile
The Crescent Textile owned by the Crescent group has been expanding ever since its establishment. The recent acquisition of 72 Air jet Looms at Hattar is just one other of its ventures. The future is very promising as the company has plans to upgrade the technology , working systems, and quality standards. The company is planning to focus its operations more towards fabrics cutting back on yarn.
[1] Table: APTMA WebSite
[2] Table: Annual Report 1998
[3] Figures: US Department of State and US Foreign Commercial Service
[4] Figures: US Department of State and US Foreign Commercial Service
[5] Table: VIS
[6] Figures & Table: Annual Report 1998
[7] Table: Corporate Information Website
