Pakistan's Carpet export reaches $283 mln

KARACHI: The annual show for Carpet Industry titled “ Regional Hand Knotted Carpet Exhibition” will be held at the Karachi Expo Center from August 28-30, 2005 said Abdul Ghafoor Sajid, Chairman, Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCMEA).

The association held this exhibition in Lahore last year, 2004 and has planned this year, 2005 in Karachi.

Punjab has increased its share from 15 % to 70 % while Sindh loses on the same ratio, the major reason for the same is the one window operations and comfort of foreign buyer due to law and order situation.

The carpet exhibition 2004, held at Lahore, helped exporters to increase their export by US $ 50 million. The country total exports reached at US $ 283 million at the end of the fiscal year-2005, he said and maintained that the country’s carpet export of the financial year 2004 was made worth of US $ 232 million.

“The carpet manufacturers and exporters of the province of Punjab and especially of Lahore have already setup factory system for enhancing their carpet exports to the Western countries and to setup factory system for the carpet manufacturing in the province of Sindh, the Association (PCMEA) has already been working with ministry of commerce for acquiring land in the vicinity of Korangi Industrial Area to setup carpet-manufacturing factories” he further added.

The factory system would build the buyers’ and importers’ confidence on Pakistan as a whole, therefore, the province of Sindh would increase its share in the country’s carpet exports. At present, the share of the province of Sindh in the country’s export is about 15 to 17 percent while at one time in 1986 it was higher then the Indian Export that is now ten times of ours, the PCMEA President concluded.

Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk