The Sports Goods Sector in Pakistan - TRTA i

Pakistan is also a supplier to the European top countries in the form mainly of women’s ankleboots, supplying comparatively very little (less than 1%; ranking 40 th supplier). Nevertheless, ithas its foot in the door of top markets.640510 – Composition leather uppersA comparatively small market exists for this product category, the global import market isestimated at around US$423m. The market is showing significant growth, averaging 8% peryear between 2001- 05. The United Kingdom, the United States and France are key buyers.Singapore and Ukraine also play smaller part. Though still very small, Libya stands out as arapidly growing new market.Whilst composition leather shoes are one of Pakistan’s most important footwear exports,Pakistan does not appear in the list of suppliers to the world’s key markets.Market access conditions in major marketsTariffs and quotas in major marketsThe lowest tariffs applied to the imports of footwear from Pakistan occur in Europe wherePakistan benefits from the preferential tariff for GSP countries and the Middle East – the UAE,Saudi Arabia and Oman, which all have the same flat rate of 5% for footwear products. For theproduct categories highlighted as of importance to Pakistan in the previous chapter, the EUGSP rate is 4.5% in most cases with some exceptions. Category 640510 – composition leatheruppers is 0%. In the 640391 category – uppers of leather covering the ankle – there are two EUtariff lines specifying women’s shoes with insoles of a length of more than 24cm at 1.5%.These categories are produced in Pakistan but not in large numbers. Though the GSP providesfor a beneficial rate for Pakistani footwear exporters, it does mean extra paperwork.The tariffs imposed by Japan on imports of footwear products from Pakistan are comparativelyvery high, with the majority of tariff lines at a 27-30% rate. Japan only offers a GSP rate in the640510 and 640590 categories, and only for specific lines – 0% tariff for 640510300 and640590200. It should be noted that many of the Japanese footwear tariff lines are subject totariff quotas. For numerous tariff lines, the below quota rate is in fact zero. The above quotarate is very high – as much as US$40/pair.In a similar fashion to Japan, the US has not included footwear in its GSP regime, at least notfor the products being looked at for this overview. The usage of disposable footwear variesfrom one country to the other. For example, in Pakistan, footwear made up of leather upper andPVC is worn casually. Whereas in Australia this footwear is imported from Pakistan, India andChina. It is worn only once and then thrown because it is available at very cheap prices, i.e.US$4–5. Having said that, the US tariffs are significantly less than Japan’s, ranging from 0 to12.5%, averaging 7% for the product categories relevant to Pakistan.For specific lines in the 640340 (metal toecap leather upper), 640391(uppers of leathercovering the ankle) and 640510 (uppers of composition leather), Japan also applies a tariffquota at a very prohibitive rate of US$40/pair, equivalent to well over 100% of the shoevalues.South Korea applies a flat MFN rate of 13% and Yemen, which is still in the process of WTOaccession, applies a flat general rate of 10%.International Trade Centre 35