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Industry sources fear that in coming days carpets’ exports are likely to dip dramatically and the industry would face a crisis-like situation because of labour shortage, caused by the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
On the other hand, director of Afghan Carpets Iftikhar Hussain commented that since 90s, most of the local workforce had left this industry and it was mostly Afghan refugees, who were working in this industry; whereas carpet business will be very challenging in the future, as we face a tough competition from India in the global arena and the cost of production in this business is constantly going up.
The official figure reveals that the export of carpets and rugs has already begun showing a declining trend as in July-Feb 2006-07, carpets, rugs and mats worth $145.54 million were exported as compared with July-Feb 2005-06, when their export stood at $171.23 million.
Further, in terms of quantity, Pakistan exported 2.29 million square meters of carpets, rugs and mats in July-Feb 2006-07, against 2.83 million square meters exported in July-Feb 2005-06, which shows an 18.83 percent decline.
The carpet manufacturing takes place in many parts of the country, which are inhabited by Afghan refugees such as Quetta, parts of the NWFP, Karachi, Attock and few years ago in Attock, there were around 15 million carpet weaving looms, where most workers were Afghan.
The number of looms has rapidly declined since the repatriation of Afghans and carpet manufacturing in this region is now almost non-existent.
Afghans working in the carpet weaving setups in Attock earned on an average 2,500 rupees ($41) for weaving a piece measuring one square foot.
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