Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) Chairman S. M. Naseem has opposed the proposal to ban export of raw leather or increase duty by 80 percent moved by Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Shaikh Waheed Sundal.
In a statement to the press issued here on Tuesday, he said that such unwarranted and conflicting proposal was moved in a statement without first consulting the main representative trade body, the Pakistan Tanners Association.
He regretted that this had been done without examining the long-term impact on leather industry. The Sialkot chamber had no right to move such demand against the leather industry, he added.
The PTA chairman said the export of wet blue leather, rawhides and skins had gone down and not increased as stated by the SCCI president. Naseem asserted that import of finished leather was already duty free and leather product manufacturers had facility of importing the same from any country at their choice, so the question of shortage of this raw material did not arise at all.-PR