Carpet exports have declined by around $14.87 million or 38 percent during the first two months of the current fiscal year mainly due to slowdown in economy in the United States and European region, trade sources said on Saturday.
"Economies of both the US and EU blocks are trying to absorb shocks from higher interest rates, jobs cut, inflation and higher international oil prices," commented a leading carpet exporter.
Updated statistics till August (July and August 2006) show that last year''s declining trend in the country''s carpet exports continued into this fiscal year as well.
The country exported around $23.36 million worth of carpets during July and August, this year, against last year''s (July-Aug05) export of $38.24 million, depicting a straight decline of around $15 million.
"Since this item (carpets) is a luxury rather than a necessity, its sales in the international market decline when crude oil goes up or economic activities slow down," the exporter pointed out.
He said the country''s carpet exports grow smartly during August to December every year, however, exporters have not received big orders during the same period this year.
Underlining another reason of declining exports, another carpet exporter said: "In fact, we have lost our big clientele as we have become uncompetitive in the world''s market."
He continued some of their big clients have been diverted towards other regional countries, including India and China as these countries are cost competitive and enjoying controlled production.
"Both China and India have facilities of designing, dyeing, production and finishing under one-roof, which Pakistan lacks," said a Karachi-based exporter.
He said if the government provides ''Carpet City'' to manufacturers of Lahore and Karachi, exports of the country would witness a growth of 10 percent every year. "Actually, we do not have yet a place where foreign buyers could visit," he said, adding once their buyer shows complete faith on Pakistani carpet industry, exporters would receive very big orders, which would lift the country''s carpet exports.
Exporters said in the absence of systematic programming, they sometimes do not fulfil orders in time, which leaves a bad impression of investors and the country as well. "India can fulfil a big order in three months, while Pakistan could not meet it even after six months just because Indians have the facility of systematic programming and more than 400 employees can work together under one-roof there," they remarked.
They regretted that the country had missed its $280 million carpets export target by $26 million last financial year (2005-06) because of inefficient marketing strategy and increased market share of China, India, and Afghanistan in the world market.
There are six leading carpet suppliers in the world-Iran, China, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Turkey. Pakistan ranks fourth in terms of value and second in terms of volume.
Its share was $220 million during the fiscal year 2003-04, while Iran was on top with exports worth $613 million in the same period. However, the international market share of India and Nepal are $508 million and $75 million, respectively, while after hectic efforts China has now emerged as a big player in the carpet industry world-wide and is enjoying a bigger share of the market.
Comments
Comments are closed.