960415

70 percent fall in

leather garment

exports in March

KARACHI: Export of leather made-ups registered a fall of 70.27 percent during March, 1996, as compared to March 1995.

The export in March 1996, was $ 8.3 million whereas in March 1995, it was $ 28 million. About 75 percent of the total export of leather made-ups constitutes export of leather garments. This is the biggest decline during one single month for leather made-ups in the history of leather industry in Pakistan.

Cumulative export for the nine months from July '95 to March 1996 of leather made-ups was $229 million as against $266 million, showing a decline of over 14 percent over the corresponding period of last year.

The figures were given by Fawad Ijaz Khan, spokesman of Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Forum, in a press release on Monday.

Ijaz attributed global as well as domestic reasons for this decline in leather garments exports. Among the global reasons was cheaper products from India, China and Indonesia for the comparable quality of leather garments from Pakistan.

Fawad Ijaz said that two very important domestic factors were responsible for the decline in the leather made-ups exports. One, there was scarcity of finished leather in the country and therefore more and more leather had to be imported this was vital for the survival of leather garments industry in the country." Another factor was that in the leather package announced by the government in October 1995, it was decided by the government that the import of crust and finished leather would be allowed against import duties equivalent to the duty drawback rates on the export of leather garments. It was very unfortunate that over six months have elapsed yet no S R O has been issued for this very important part of the leather package. A lot of leather garment factories have already done sourcing of importation of crust and finished leather from different countries of the world but because of the non-issuance of necessary S R O garment manufacturers were not able to import this leather.

The other very important factor responsible for the decline in leather made-ups export was the imposition of 5 percent regulatory duty on the import of raw/pickle hides and skins.

Fawad stressed that zero-rated import of raw/pickle hides and skins was essential for the survival and growth of leather sector in the country.