Carpet exports which were showing an upward trend in the last few months declined sharply in the month of November 2004, both in terms of value and volume. According to carpet industry circles, latest figures of carpet exports in November show 37 percent decline in dollar terms, 34 percent in rupee terms and 43 percent in quantity terms.
As a result of November setback, overall carpet exports during the period July-November 2004 declined to Rs 5.137 billion as compared to Rs 5.292 billion in the corresponding period in 2003-2004, denoting a fall of 2.95 percent, they claimed. In dollar terms, income from carpet exports fell from $91.83 million in July-November 2003-2004 to $86.99 million in 2004, depicting a fall of 5.38 percent.
In terms of quantity, the decline has been even more sharp ie almost 13 percent or 1.466 million sqm in 2004 as compared to 1.689 million sqm in 2003.
Analysing the export figures, Naeem Tahir Sheikh, a leading exporter, said that in the last few years the international market has been very favourable for Pakistani carpets, but the industry has not been able to take advantage of the situation because of lacking organised research and development and co-ordinated marketing effort. A few exporters, however, in their individual capacity have kept up the momentum on their own, he added.
"Domotex, the world's biggest carpet fair, which will be held in January next year, provides a good opportunity for the captains of the industry to jointly plan a big push for our exporters," he viewed.
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