By Muhammad Soban ISLAMABAD, Feb 01 (INP-WealthPK): To increase its share in the world leather market and enhance its global competitiveness, Pakistan has to overcome the challenges the industry is facing. Though the country is self-sufficient in the production of raw leather, to make the final goods, it has to import all the inputs and accessories such as buttons, zips, and other items. This, in turn, increases the cost of production, affecting the competitiveness in the world market. Pakistan has to reduce its dependence on imports of accessories by establishing and developing supporting industries. This will not only reduce the cost of production but also create employment opportunities. Pakistan's leather industry also lacks skilled manpower as there is a shortage of vocational and technical training institutes. So, the government should develop technical training institutes with specialised programmes in designing, sewing and finishing leather products. There is also a need to adopt new technologies and techniques in the preservation of skins and hides as Pakistan uses traditional methods, which leads to wastage of a lot of skins and hides. Proper training of people involved in the hides’ processing is also a must. As there is not a concept of a joint venture in Pakistan, the government should encourage this idea by seeking foreign investment in the sector. This would help the leather industry access new technology and production processes. Pakistan is the second largest exporter in South Asia, which is considered the hub of leather production globally. Pakistan’s leather industry produces garments, footwear, and other accessories.  Pakistan’s leather industry contributes 5.4% of the total exports, only second to the textile sector. Germany is the top export destination of Pakistani leather products with a market share of 31%, followed by the United States and the Netherland with a 13% and 8.7% share, respectively. According to a report of Grand View Research, the size of global leather goods market was about $394 billion in 2020. It is expected that the market will grow 5.9% annually from 2021 to 2028. As for the statistics sake in exports, Pakistan’s leather industry is observing a positive trend after a downfall during last few years. Compared with the previous year's same month, leather products’ exports increased by 22.75% in October 2021-22. Pakistan shipped leather-made items worth Rs9 billion ($52 million) to the world in October this year. During the last five years, the 2017-18 saw the highest exports, earning the country about $948 million. But afterwards the exports witnessed a decline as the Covid-19 pandemic started to take its toll on almost every sector of the economy. The country’s leather exports continued to decline during the fiscal years 2018-19 and 2019-20. But after the revival of economic activities, leather exports have shown a positive trend during 2020-21, according to statistics published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, as shown in the following graph. The leather exports recorded $833 million in fiscal year 2020-21.