Turnaround for leather industry?
Having reported continued declines in the volume of leather exports in recent times Pakistan’s leather industry must have welcomed the November data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, which reported a staggering 49.92% month-on-month improvement in exports to $115.852 million, up from $77.276 million in October. Year-on-year the figures also made positive reading, as exports were a massive 57.03% higher than the $73.776-million reported in November 2006. The impressive turnaround in the sector’s fortunes has been largely attributed to a marked improvement in the exports of leather garments which reached $58.5 million in November, up from $27.04 million in the previous month, although increases were also reported for finished leather (+16.57%) and leather goods (+81.5%).
Year-to-date statistics also look promising with exports 13.21% in the first five months (July-November) at $464.743 million, compared with $410.509 million in same period last year.
However, in spite of this positive news, as reported by www.leatherbiz.com yesterday the long-term implications of the current political turmoil remain to be seen.
