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Export of leather products from the country grew 13.5 per cent to Rs 13,737 crore ($2.3 billion) during the first five months of this fiscal against the corresponding period a year ago, according to Directorate-General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.
Leather footwear clocked a growth of 19.8 per cent at Rs 4,685 crore. Shipments of non-leather footwear, such as canvas shoes and slippers made of rubber, jumped 75 per cent during April-August to Rs 405 crore, while the footwear components segment grew 36 per cent to Rs 624 crore.
China, and South-East Asian nations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia are ahead in non-leather footwear compared with India because of domestic sourcing of raw material, says M. Rafeeque Ahmed, President, All India Skin and Hide Tanners and Merchants Association. “Import duty of polyurethane, which is an important raw material for making soles, is high in India.”
The segments of leather saddlery and harnesses also grew 40 per cent while in footwear components it was 39 per cent.
Germany remains the top market, importing 12 per cent more at $304 million during the period while the second-largest importer, the US, raised shipments 20.6 per cent to $255 million.
European countries, the US, and China – which cut imports by 11 per cent – accounted for 76 per cent of the exports.
During 2012-13, exports totalled $4.9 billion. The leather sector is attempting to diversify its market by looking at South-East Asian nations, South America and Africa.
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