Federal Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi will formally inaugurate Sports Industries Development Centre (SIDC) costing Rs 436 million tomorrow.
Sialkot is globally known as a producer of high quality sports goods for over 120 years and the city Sialkot caters to around 70 percent of total world demand of hand stitched inflatable balls, which translates into around 40 million balls annually and providing direct employment facility to over 200,000 individuals.
Some of the world-renowned brands Adidas, Nike and Puma sourcing a large portion of their supplies of sports goods from Sialkot. Total exports of Sports Goods during Calendar year 2014 were US$ 260 million with inflatable balls worth US$ 211 million. The major export destinations are Germany (14 percent of total exports), UK (10 percent of total exports), USA (8 percent of total exports) and Netherlands (7 percent of total exports).
Sports goods sector faced and overcame many challenges in the past through collective initiatives taken by all the stakeholders in general and exporters in particular. The sector faced serious threat in the form of "Mechanized inflatable ball", which used medium end technology to produce a ball having most of the characteristics of hand stitched ball. This new ball had been tested and played in a number of international football tournaments including UEFA EURO 2004.
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