Implications of export competitiveness, and performance of textile and clothing sector of Pakistan : pre and post quota analysis

Textile and Clothing sector of Pakistan has been facing different international trade reforms i.e. Multi-fiber Arrangements, Quota elimination and for some of the developing countries European union, introduced special trade arrangements like GSP plus to improve their balance of trade conditions. In the light of pre quota elimination and post quota elimination periods, this paper highlights trade performance of textile and clothing sector in depth. This study focused on finding the extent of revealed comparative advantage of textile and revealed comparative advantage of clothing sector on overall textile and clothing trade performance of Pakistan. For this purpose study applied Johansen co-integration to check long run relationship among trade performance, revealed comparative advantage of textile and revealed comparative advantage of clothing sector. This study found that textile sector has been significantly contributing in trade performance of textile and clothing sector over all, instead of clothing sector of Pakistan. Moreover, study observed that textile and clothing sector did not get benefit of quota elimination as it was expected.