Local optimism sparse at IILF
30/01/2009
The Indian leather industry will not be able to achieve its export target of $4 billion this year because of the state of the global economy, the new chairman of the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) said as the organisation prepared for the start of the Inidia International Leather Fair (IILF) in Chennai.
Though the first six months of the current financial year, which runs from April to March, were extremely good for the industry, registering a 20% growth in exports, new CLE chairman, Habib Hussain, said results had deteriorated in the last two months.
Leather sector exports by December 2008 had brought $2 billion into the Indian economy, compared to $3.5 billion for the same month in 2007. Mr Hussain said it would be "a miracle" if the $4 billion target were achieved. He added: "We have never seen in living memory a crisis of this magnitude. Nobody is sure of anything. Existing scientific parameters to assess the market demand and sales projections are not working.''
But he added that the current economic climate could also offer opportunities for Indian leather producers who are able still to be innovative and different. "We need to upgrade our leather, introduce new designs for products at cheaper prices,'' he concluded.
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