Trade

Pakistani footwear exports on the rise

Apr 10, 2023 Pakistan

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), footwear exports grew substantially from July 2022 through February 2023, while leather exports followed the opposite direction

In the first eight months of the current fiscal year*, leather manufacturers' exports totalled 401.6 million US dollars, which suggests a decline of 4.92% from the same period of the last fiscal year. Additionally, in this period, Pakistani tanners shipped 7 200 square-metres of finished leather, worth 113.9 million US dollars, down by 27.71% in volume and 15.18% in value, as compared to the similar eight-month period of fiscal 2021-2022.

Footwear

From July 2022 through February 2023, the Asian country exported a total of 16.4 million pairs of shoes, generating a revenue of 124.5 million US dollars. These figures indicate a growth of 37.80% in volume and 19.99% in value, on a comparable basis to the same period of the previous year.

Breaking down by segment. In the first eight months of the current year, Pakistan exported 7.36 million leather footwear pairs, worth 101.3 million US dollars, up by 43.55% and 21.75% from the same months last year - hence, leather footwear exports accounted for roughly 81% of the total value exported in the footwear category.

The other footwear segment also registered a significant increase in this period, shipping 8.95 million pairs, worth 22.65 million US dollars, up by 33.98% in volume and 14.35% in value, as compared to the prior year. On the opposite trajectory, in this period, the canvas footwear segment recorded a decline of 7.75% in volume (80 thousand pairs) and 24.64% in value (540 million US dollars), year-over-year.

Pakistani Footwear Industry

The World Footwear 2022 Yearbook (more information available HERE) shows that the Pakistan's footwear industry is the 7^th largest in the world, employing around one million people in the country. Mainly focused on the domestic market, it finds in the US and Europe and Arab countries its main destination markets. China is Pakistan's main supplier.

*Pakistan's fiscal year runs from July to June.

Image Credits: Syed Bilal Javaid on Unsplash

Pakistan Exports Footwear International Trade Leather