Ayesha Saba

Pakistan needs to focus on a multi-faceted approach incorporating quality enhancement, innovation, marketing, export incentives, market research, and industry collaboration, to boost its sports goods exports, which will contribute to overall economic growth, said a senior official.

“Because we are not able to produce innovative products according to our true potential, we sell raw materials and raw goods to companies across the world, who then further process, stamp, and market them, such as footballs made in Sialkot,” said M. Alamgir Chaudhry, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Productivity Organisation, Ministry of Industries and Production, while talking to WealthPK.

He said Pakistan exports a significant portion of its sports goods to world-famous brands like Adidas, Nike, Puma, Lotto, Umbro, Mitre, Micassa, Diadora, Wilson, and Decathlon. “We sell our footballs to those companies at very low prices. By developing our own international-standard brand, our manufacturers can earn five times more than the current export value of our footballs,” he emphasised.

“Running the industry is not the only thing. We need to establish our own brands and need a vision for investment in branding if we want to promote the ‘Made in Pakistan’ concept. However, creating a brand requires heavy investments in design, packaging, and marketing. If we want to reach our goal, we have to start from somewhere,” he pointed out. Alamgir said the government should arrange awareness programs to provide incentives to international companies for investing locally, and to provide relief on productivity-based taxes, as well as incentives to people for making investment.

“Pakistan can identify countries that have a strong demand for sports goods and initiate discussions to reach trade agreements. Through these agreements, both countries can agree to lower or eliminate tariffs on sports goods, making them more affordable for importers and boosting Pakistan's export competitiveness,” he emphasised. “In the absence of compatibility, we cannot compete. If we will not compete in the international market, we will lose the market share rather than fetching it. Primarily we have to broaden the angle of productivity and innovation in our products,” he added.

According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, Pakistan’s sports industry witnessed a steep increase in exports of sporting goods over the past fiscal year. The exports of sporting goods increased 17.8% from $259.9 million in 2021-22 to $306.1 million in 2022-23. The increase was largely due to the football manufacturing industry, which saw an increase both in quantity and value by 36.5% and 33.7%, respectively.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk