January 22, 2019: The footwear exports from the country during the first half of the current fiscal year witnessed an increase of 14.34 percent as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan exported footwear worth $57.223 million during July-December (2018-19) against the exports of $50.048 million during July-December (2017-18), according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Among these products, leather footwear exports increased from $44.999 million during the first half of last year to $50.840 million during the current year, showing growth of 12.98 percent.

However, the exports of canvas footwear witnessed negative growth of 49.48 percent by going down from $000.097 million to $000.049 million, the PBS data revealed.

The exports of other footwear also increased by 27.91 percent during the period under review by going up from $4.952 million last year to $6.334 million, according to the data.

Meanwhile, the footwear exports, on year-on-year basis, increased by 6.45 percent in December 2018 when compared to the exports of December 2017.

The footwear exports during December 2018 were recorded at US $11.366 million compared to the exports of $10.677 million in December 2017.

During the month under reviews, the exports of leather footwear increased b 2.43 percent, from US $ 9.799 million to US $ 10.037 million whereas the exports of canvas footwear increased by 133 percent, from just US $ 0.006 million to US $ 0.014 million.

The other exports of footwear also increased by 50.80 percent during the month by going up from US$ 0.872 million in December 2017 to US$ 1.315 million in December 2018.

On month-on-month basis, the overall footwear exports from the country increased by 35.49 percent to US $ 7.565 million in December 2018 compared to the exports of November 2018.

The exports of leather footwear increased by 30.42 percent, canvas footwear by 100 percent and exports of other footwear by 91.58 percent.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall trade deficit of the country has contracted by five percent to

US$ 16.8 billion in July-December (2018-19) against the deficit of US $17.7 billion during same period of the year 2017-18.

Government’s policy measures have resulted in shrinking of trade deficit, decline in imports and increase in exports which augurs well for overall balance of payment of the country.

 (APP)

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