Karachi, Pakistan, September 18, 2006--The country's carpet export target has been missed by approximately $26 million, set for the last financial year (2005-06) due to inefficient marketing strategy and increased market share of China, India, and Afghanistan in the world market, trade sources told Business Recorder on Thursday.
They said the country has failed to achieve its export target of $280 million set for the last fiscal year, and hardly reached $251.44 million due mainly to stiff competition with Afghan exporters, who came up aggressively on the international front and exported best quality material at comparatively lower rates.
According to provisional statistics, the country's carpet exports had reached $277 million on June 30, 2005 and the exporters were quite optimistic that they would cross the milestone of $280 million at the end of June 30, 2006. However, their efforts to boost export proved futile as they had not received government's backing throughout the year.
"Previously, Afghan exporters used to dispatch their material (hand-knotted carpets) through Pakistan, which they have now changed, and exporting their material directly from Afghanistan and last year they had actively participated in Domotex - the international and mega carpet exhibition held in Germany every year," said a leading exporter.
He said that Afghanistan had aggressively participated in Domotex with government's backing last year, and attracted foreign buyers towards its stalls besides quoting comparatively lesser rates.
"We are not anymore in price competition with other regional players," said Muhammad Naeem Sajid, a Karachi-based exporter, criticising the government's attitude for not providing any help to carpet exporters.
"How could we compete with our regional players - China and India - in such circumstances where we do not have any such place where we could invite any foreign buyer to come and see our artistic work," he argued.
Sources pointed out that carpet exporters are not enjoying any sort of subsidy or rebate from the government, which has not yet initiated 'Carpet City' project, which they term 'a setback for the industry.'
"Foreign buyers are being shifted towards programming, systematic production and controlled production under hygienic conditions, which we simply do not have yet," Naeem Sajid remarked.
"We could not invite any potential foreign buyer to come and visit our small setups at Landhi or Korangi, which is still deprived of basic infrastructure facilities," he deplored.
Exporters said that China and India have huge setups for carpet manufacturing under one-roof and this situation has not only inviting foreign buyers to place their huge orders in these countries, but also helped broaden the employment base.
Sources said that last year, a Swedish company- Ikea -approached one of the members of the Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association and visited Pakistan, however, after several meetings they had not placed any order in Pakistan and then approached Indian manufacturers and placed the huge order there.
