Pakistan’s exports rose 26.7 per cent to $2.20 billion in July 2011 from $1.72 billion in July last year, reported Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) on Friday. “The country fetched over two billion dollar for the eighth consecutive month,” said Tariq Iqbal Puri, chief executive of TDAP on telephone. He added that exports remained robust against general assumptions of a decline due to slump in cotton price and slowdown in textile business in the country.The cotton traded at Rs6, 200 ($72) per maund (37.324 kilograms) on Friday against over $152 late last year.  Accordingly, the business of textile, cloths and made ups was facing price erosion, sources said.Puri said that TDAP’s strategy of increasing exports of non-traditional items along with keeping close focus on regional markets paid off. “We adopted this strategy in December 2010.”He said that the provisional data suggested the share of textile, cloths and made ups remained around 50 per cent in the total exports of $2.203 billion.The rest of the exports included non-traditional items such as minerals and stones, meat, chemicals and petroleum and plastic products. He said that last month” the country did not export wheat, as the quota allocated for the season came to an end with the culmination of fiscal year 2010/11. Going forward, the country may witness decline in the value of textile exports due to plunge in cotton price, but the country may earn higher foreign exchange by exporting cotton. “This year, the country is estimated to produce 16 million bales of cotton, which might be in surplus and be exported accordingly.” Similarly, the country is expected to witness bumper crop of rice and exporters may sell 4.6 million tonnes, which is estimated to fetch $2.5 billion in 2011/12. TDAP further reported that imports during July 2011 were valued at $3.689 billion, growing 13.9 per cent from $3.239 billion in July 2010. Therefore, the trade deficit in the first month of the current fiscal year stood at $1.486 billion against $1.513 billion registered in the same month in 2010. From / Gulf Today