GSP+ Explained: What It Means for European Textile Buyers

If you source textiles from Pakistan and sell into Europe, GSP+ affects your bottom line directly. Most buyers have heard the term but not many can explain it clearly. Here is what it actually means.

What GSP+ is

GSP+ is a trade arrangement between the European Union and certain developing countries. Pakistan is one of them. Under this arrangement, goods exported from Pakistan to EU member states enter at 0% import duty across thousands of product categories, including home textiles.

Without GSP+, textile imports into the EU attract duties typically ranging from 9% to 12% depending on the product. That is a significant cost that comes straight off your margin or gets added to your buying price.

What it means in practice

When you import bed linen, duvet covers, or towels from Pakistan into Germany, France, or Spain, you do not pay import duty. Your competitor sourcing the same product from a country without GSP+ status pays 9% to 12% more on every shipment.

That difference either makes Pakistani goods cheaper for you, or gives you more room on your selling price, or both.

What you need from your supplier

To claim GSP+ duty relief, your goods need to be accompanied by the correct export documentation. The supplier is responsible for providing this. If your current supplier is not including GSP+ documentation with shipments, you are likely paying duty you do not need to pay.

We supply wholesale home textiles from certified manufacturers in Faisalabad with full GSP+ documentation on every shipment. If you want to check whether your current supplier is doing this correctly, get in touch and we can take a look.