Government must end ‘irrational’ burden on leather exports, PTA says
A negative trend in export results continued for Pakistan’s leather sector in July, the first month of the country’s new financial year.
The overall value of leather-sector exports for the month was $63.6 million, down by 15% year on year.
Exports of finished leather brought in revenues of $11.75 million, which was an increase of 16.7% year on year. The figure for leather garments and leathergoods was $40 million, while footwear brought in $11.8 million, representing falls of 19.5% and 21.9% respectively.
Chairman of the Pakistan Tanners’ Association, Muhammad Mehr Ali, said the industry’s export figures have been in decline for the past two years as a result of what he called an uneven playing field.
This is a reference to the added costs industry players face from the requirement for health quarantine certificates for the export of finished leather and the need to pay increased customs duties for the import of hides and skins.
The PTA chairman said these measures were irrational and called on the government to remove them. He said the industry was also suffering because promised sales tax and income tax rebates have been “pending for a long time”.
He appealed to the government to recognise the role of the leather industry in the country’s economy and said that by removing “unnecessary obstacles”, the industry can help strengthen Pakistan’s export performance.
