Pakistan records higher leather exports
Pakistan's leather exports rose 8.3% in March to $67.8 million from $62.6 million in February. Leather exports rose 1.5% compared with March 2009 ($66.8 million), according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics.
The breakdown showed that during March, finished leather exports totalled $32 million, leathergoods exports reached $29.3 million and footwear exports were $6.5 million compared with $21.8 million, $31.8 million and $13.2 million, respectively, in February. Finished leather exports were up 33.3%; however, leathergoods exports fell 1.2% and footwear exports fell 27.4% compared with the previous month.
Furthermore, leather exports fell 17.7% to $629.4 million during the first nine months of the year (July 2009 to March 2010) from $765.4 million during the prior-year period.
The breakdown showed that during this nine-month period, the country exported 15.1 million square-metres of finished leather worth $219 million compared with 14.9 million square-metres worth $228.8 million in the prior-year period. This represents growth of 1.1% in terms of quantity but a 4.3% decline in terms of value. The country exported leathergoods worth $336.8 million during the same period (including leather garments worth $262.1 million, leather gloves worth $66.4 million and other leathergoods worth $8.3 million) compared with $438.8 million during the same period last year, a decline of 23.2%. The country also exported 8.8 million pairs of footwear worth $73.6 million (including leather footwear worth $58.9 million, canvas footwear worth $0.3 million and other footwear worth $14.4 million) compared with 10.8 million pairs worth $97.8 million during the same period a year ago, a drop of 24.7%.
