Pakistan leather export prospects hurt by tax refund delays
Pakistan exported leather and leather goods worth $477 million leather during the first nine months of the financial year July 2000 to March 2001, according to data released by Statistics Division, Federal Bureau of Statistics. This compares with $370 million in the corresponding period of last year.
Of the total figure, $154 million was accounted for by leather exports (12 million sq. metres) and $323 million in manufactured leather items. The same figures for the previous year were $119 million (8 million square metres) and $252 million respectively. This equates to year-on-year increases of 29.65% (leather) and 28.40% (manufactured leather goods).
In March, 2001, alone, Pakistan exported finished leather worth $16 million (1.4 million square metres) and manufactured leather goods worth $23.6 million.
The Chairman of the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) Farrukh Hussain Shaikh said that demand for the country’s leather garments and design products had increased by a considerable margin in USA and Europe over the last 18 months. However, he also considered that the overall export figure would have been considerably higher, had it not been for the 100% rise in finished leather prices of the past year, and the delays being experienced by exporters in receiving sales tax refunds from the Pakistan Central Board of Revenue (CBR).
These delays had proved particularly troublesome for some smaller exporters, said Shaikh, since it had affected their ability to obtain raw material on the international market on credit terms.
