June 04, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1429

KARACHI, June 3: The Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) has said that the encouraging trends in export of leather and leather goods indicate that the export target of $1.135 billion will be surpassed by June 30, 2008.

PTA chairman S M Naseem in a statement issued on Tuesday said that higher exports were made during first ten months (July to April) of the current fiscal year against $795 million recorded in the same period last year.

He said that the entire leather sector achieved 24 per cent growth in exports during the period under review but the export of finished leather goods increased by 34 per cent from $253 million to $338 million.

Of the total leather sector export target of $1.135 billion, the tanned leather, in particular, achieved excess export by $38 million till April 2008.

Mr. Naseem suggested that the leather export target should be set at $1.5 billion by the year 2010.

He said that the current export growth in leather and leather goods could be sustained if the government provides incentives to the value-added leather industry.