Continued power and gas load shedding in the country has brought the leather sector second major export-oriented sector near closure, Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) said Saturday.
Chairman PTA, Khurshid Alam while meeting with US Consul General (Lahore), Carmela Conroy and Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, gave comparative exports statistics and told the sector contributed $1.220 billion in FY 2007 08, $959 million in 2008 09 and $ 863 million in 2009 10, recording a 30 percent decline in 2007 08 and 17.69 percent decline in 2009-10. Leather is a continuous process industry. Gas load shedding and power breakdowns have hurt the smooth process, due to which hides get destroyed and various quality issues arise, Alam said.
He said due to load shedding, finished leather valuing $2.0 comes down to 0.5 cents, which is causing production losses. Whereas due to shortage of natural gas, the industry is closing or switching over to alternative fuels, which is not viable.
Alam said a total 800 tanneries are working in Pakistan and this sector contributes 5 percent in GDP and 5.4 percent in the form of export earnings while a total 500,000 workforce is employed in this sector. A PTA delegation within next 2-3 days will meet Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to discuss all the related issues, particularly closure of gas supply to the leather industry in Punjab.
Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif promising PTA said if all the problems and grievances of leather sector are not resolved in the next few days, he would lead the protest along with the leather industry representatives and other industries representatives. The PTA Hide and Skin and Environment Chairman, Agha Saiddain said there is strict travel advisory by US foreign mission/embassy for its citizens to travel Pakistan and there is also visa restriction for Pakistani businessmen to visit US.
How would the bilateral trade flourish if the buyer and seller can not see each other, he added. The access to US markets is a big issue for Pak leather industry and measures to enable PTA s members for easy and smooth access in US market are vital. There are a lot of opportunities for US businessmen in Pakistan. Referring to NIKE a US brand Alam said the company was never involved in the soccer ball business despite the fact, Chairman NIKE visited Pakistan and was taken to Sialkot for four hours where he experienced potential of soccer ball manufacturing industry. His visit gained three benefits: Pakistan started manufacturing soccer balls for Nike, Nike became one of the largest buyers of Pakistani soccer balls and Nike became the largest retailer of soccer balls in Pakistan. Despite being a frontally in the US war on terror, the leather products trade volume between Pakistan and United States is insignificant as US is importing leather products worth $27.189 billion 20 person of the world s total leather import while Pakistan is getting a meagre share of $173 million, only 0.64 percent of the total US leather imports.
US Consul General, Carmela assured to take up with her recommendations with all the quarters concerned in United States for their positive review and redressal. She assured to extend her maximum possible cooperation in getting US visa to PTA s members and businessmen to enable them to make smooth and convenient travel to US for business expansion and to boost bilateral trade relations.
CITATION http://www.chinaleather.org/eng/show.php?itemid=5714
