PTA appeal for government support
24 February 2010Gulzar Firoz, chairman, Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) has appealed to the Pakistan president, prime minister and commerce minister to urgently consider bailing out the leather industry from a deepening crisis, according to a press release on February 24, from the PTA.
The current export figures for the past seven-month period are US$480 million as compared with US$613 million in the same period of last year. This is a decline of 22% in the total exports from the leather sector. According to the PTA the situation is leading to a serious crisis which need immediate government relief packages or incentives otherwise the entire industry may collapse.
Based on the final export figure of approximately US$850 million for the end of this fiscal year it will represent an overall decline of 15%. However, the accumulative decrease over the past three years is around 35%. In the fiscal year 2007-08 the exports were US$1220 million.
Therefore, PTA say that the government should urgently meet representatives of the leather industry to consider their proposals in order to arrest the decline in exports as well as to save the leather industry for the ultimate national interest of the country.
