Former Chairman, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Gulzar Feroz has said that the export of leather products, including industrial gloves are fast declining due to high cost of production and reduce demand in international market.Talking to newsmen on Thursday, he said that the world is passing through serious economic recession, which has crippled industrial activities and reduced demand.
He said that Pakistani industrial gloves were most popular in world market but due to recession its demand has also reduced drastically. He said beside reduction in demand, cost of production is increasing in Pakistan owing to frequent increase in power and gas tariffs beside increase in cost of other inputs.
He said that by the end of current fiscal year, export of leather and leather product is likely to reduce by 30 percent Leather garments constituting 52.9 percent (US $306.6 million) of the total annual value of leather exports, rank highest among exports of leather industry, followed by finished leather goods constituting 35.8 percent (US $207.8 million) of the total export earnings. Export of leather gloves, comprising mostly of industrial gloves, rank third at 4.70 percent (US $27.2 million).
In recent past, Pakistan's exports of dresses & fancy gloves has been on the rise. Pakistan's export of footwear makes only about 4.8 percent (US $28.2 million) of the total leather export. He said that leather industrialists are facing serious problems of running their units. Almost 30,000 people associated with leather industries have lost their jobs due to no work. He said that Pakistan Trade Development Authority (TDAP) must make efforts to explore new markets for export of leather products.