Carpet export witnesses sharp decline during last six years (Pakistan)

Carpet export has witnessed a sharp decline of more than 60 percent during the last six years as hand-made carpet export has dropped to $120 million from $300 million, depriving almost 0.5 million people of their employment. The acute shortage of electricity, bad law and order, inflation, shortage of skilled labour force and high mark-up rate were main reasons of sharp decline in carpet exports, Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCMEA) Major Akhtar Nazir Khan Cooki (Retd) and Vice Chairman (North Zone), Kamran Razi said on Saturday.

They said that industry is in dire need of the government help, which can provide it at some ad hoc relief to revive the carpet ailing industry, besides helping 0.5 million unemployed people to return to work. "The carpet sector could not benefit from the duty-free access to EU market under GSP Plus status unless the government would restore zero-rated facility. A significant ratio of working capital of carpet exporters is already stuck-up in refund regime at a time when the carpet export is declining," said Akhtar Nazir.

Akhtar Nazir said, "Because of global recession and declining exports, the industry needs some concession from the government side in areas of credit financing and bank loans". Kamran Razi expressed concerns over massive decline in carpet exports, said that decline was primarily caused by foreign travel advisory, who were unable to convince the buyer to visit Pakistan, coupled with disturbed supply line. Small-scale factories in rural areas could help a lot to give a boost to the industry, he said. Carpet business will be very challenging in the future as we face a tough competition from India in the global arena and the cost of production in this business is constantly going up," he added. Eastern Europe, China and South America are the potential regions of carpet export. There are some traditional workers of carpet manufacturing industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, interior Sindh and Punjab, who need proper training and financing to maintain proper supply chain of the product, he proposed.