ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has high expectations of exports of leather products crossing the figure of $ 2.80 billion after five year.
Leather products worth $957.5 million were exported in first 10 months of the fiscal year 2013-14 as compared to exports of $853.3 million in the same period of last year-–led by 12 percent growth each in tanned leather and manufactured leather products
“All this will happen because the five-year Leather Sector Development Plan (LSDP) prepared by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has been approved by the government as well as incorporated in the Vision 2025,” a well placed source at MoC told this scribe here on Monday.
The SMEDA is the apex SME development organisation working under the administrative control of Ministry of Industries and Production. “Under the said plan, a sum of Rs 1.713 billion has been allocated for the Leather Sector Development and a sum of Rs. 267.50 million has been approved under PSDP for leather sector which will be utilized to establish 02 REACH testing laboratories one each in Karachi and Sialkot for current fiscal year (2014-15)”, the source added.
Therefore the source said that LSDP had been envisioned in Vision 2025 and after the implementation of interventions the exports of leather sector would cross the figure of $ 2.80 billion per annum after 5 years. Moreover, the source said that 210,000 new jobs would also be created directly by the leather sector. The source said that LSDP would also design additional programs like lending schemes for leather tanning, gloves and footwear sub-sectors and others. “Footwear testing laboratories, Footwear training institutes, Gloves training institute, CETP at Sialkot Tanneries Zone, Export Market Development—Footwear and few others such initiatives have also been proposed in the said five year plan” the source observed
The source quoting the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said that, leather had the third biggest share (4.5 percent) in the country’s total exports, after textile (54%) and rice (9%). However month-on-month based exports data showed that manufactured leather products were largely flat, showing a meager growth of 0.29 percent in April 2014.
The source said that the decline in export of leather goods was normally attributed to the increasing cost of production, limited availability of leather and its high prices, law-and-order situation in Karachi in particular and severe power shortage and gas crisis.
“Leather tanneries are also in the muddle as hides and skins obtained from animals sacrificed last year at Eid-ul-Azha are declining due to smuggling of livestock to neighbouring countries” the source added saying that as the 2015 spring season collection was being manufactured, leather goods exporters were unsure as to what price they should quote to their prospective buyers, the confusion stemming from currency fluctuation.
