According to data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan's leather exports increased 0.05% in May, to reach $75 million from $74.96 million in April 2006. However, this figure was 14.34% lower than the level recorded in May 2005 ($87.56 million).

A breakdown of the figures showed that finished leather exports improved by 35.71% to reach $26.756 million from $19.716 million in April. However, leather goods exports fell 11.07% to $40.452 million from $45.489 million and footwear exports declined by 20.13% to $7.797 million compared with $9.762 million in the previous month.

Leather exports for the period July 2005 to May 2006 performed well to reach $1 billion compared with $842.407 million in the corresponding period last year. This equates to growth of 18.77%.

During this period, Pakistan exported 14,829,000 m² of finished leather worth $248.916 million compared with 16,680,000 m² worth $273.898 million in the prior year—a decline of 11.1% in terms of volume and 9.12% in terms of value. Leather goods exports increased 38.68% to $636.07 million (which included leather garments worth $447.953 million, leather gloves at $130.759 million and other leather goods worth $57.35 million) compared with $458.675 million in the corresponding period last year. The country also saw a rise in footwear exports to reach 14,708,000 pairs worth $115.518 million (which included leather footwear exports worth $98.216 million, canvas footwear at $3.267 million and other footwear worth $14.035 million) compared with 15,061,000 pairs valued at $109.834 million in same period a year ago. This equates to growth of 5.18%.