The country’s footwear exports surged by 21.10 per cent during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The overall footwear exports were recorded at $ 51.827 million in July-November (2014-15) compared to the exports of $ 42.796 million in July-November (2013-14), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The footwear products that contributed in positive trade included leather footwear, exports of which increased by 25.90 per cent during the period under review.
The exports of leather footwear were recorded at $ 45.043 million during the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the exports of $ 35.777 million in the corresponding period of last year.
The trade of canvas footwear also increased by 8.47 per cent by going up from $ 0.059 million to $ 0.064 million, the PBS data revealed.
Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the exports of overall footwear increased by 36.15 per cent during the month of November 2014 compared to the exports of the commodity in November 2013.
According to the data, the footwear exports during November 2014 were recorded at $ 8.557 million compared to the exports of $ 6.285 million in November 2013.
During the months under review, the exports of leather footwear increased by 32.74 per cent by going up from $ 5.462 million during last November to $ 7.250 million in November this year.
On month-on-month basis, the exports of overall footwear increased by 14.32 per cent in November 2014 when compared to the exports of $ 7.485 million in October 2014.
During the month of November 2014, the exports of leather footwear increased by 20.73 per cent when compared to the exports of $ 6.005 million in October 2014.
On the other hand, the exports of leather manufactures including leather garments and leather gloves witnessed negative growth in exports during the first five months of the current fiscal year.
The exports of leather manufactures decreased by 6.02 per cent by falling from $ 275.321 million during July-November (2013-14) to $ 258.750 million in July- November (2014-15), according to PBS data.
During the period, the exports of leather garments decreased from $ 178.225 million to $ 170.160 million whereas the exports of leather gloves decreased from $ 90.975 million to $ 82.925 million, showing negative growth of 4.53 per cent and 8.85 per cent respectively.
It is pertinent to mention here that the overall exports from the country decreased by 4.19 per cent during first five months of current financial year as during the period from July-November exports were recorded at US $ 9.92 billion compared to US $ 10.356 billion during the same period of last year.
Imports into the country stood at US $ 20.373 billion as compared to the imports of US $ 18.110 billion last financial year.
The overall trade deficit, during first five months of current financial year, increased by 34.78 per cent as compared to the deficit of first five months of last financial year.
