A delegation of leather exporters from India that spent a day at a buyer-seller meet in Auckland has expressed interest in scaling up trade with New Zealand as part of their plans to expand aggressively into the Australasian market.
Indian leather exporters have established an excellent market for themselves primarily in Europe and to some extent in the United States and are now in the process of finding markets further afield. This was their first trip to the region and included a similar buyer-seller meet in Sydney and a business visit to Melbourne.
India has a relatively tiny slice of about $US 1500 million of the whopping $US 127 billion leather products market, Indian Leather Exporters Council official Ali Ahmed Khan told Indian Weekender. Between themselves, New Zealand and Australia had a market of between $US 55-60 million he said.
Though small, leather trade between New Zealand and India has been rising steadily. It has nearly doubled in the past five years going up from $US 3 million in 2003 to $US 5 million last year. “There is enough potential and we need to make known the good quality of Indian products in these markets. Such buyer-seller meets do help,” he said.
While India imports raw hides from New Zealand, it exports a range of finished product including saddlery, leather accessories and garments.
Rajeev Bohra of New Delhi-based leather products manufacturer Cheviot said that Indian products had gained a reputation in Europe. His company has been suppliers to high profile labels like Christian Dior, Burberry and DKNY besides a host of others.
“European markets now realise that you go to China for quantity and price but to India if you are after quality and fashion,” he said. “And that’s what really matters to the world’s leading fashion brands.”
Hemant Gupta of Cintrones Alwi, a Spanish-Indian accessories manufacturer and exporter to several European markets said that buyers were now aware that Indian manufacturers now meet the most stringent environmental standards and fair trade practices. “Our products, for instance, are completely chrome free and we adhere to international manufacturing and process standards,” he said.
Sumit and Preeti Jalan of Leatherman Exports found that buyers in Oceania were predisposed toward China more than India mainly because there was little awareness of Indian products here. Leatherman is a major supplier of a range of accessories to European fashion stores as also to top of the line boutiques in the United States. “This is the first time for us here and we are hopeful of making a breakthrough while we are here,” Mr Jalan said.
Speaking of buyer perceptions in Australia, Mr Jalan said, “Some buyers seemed to be wary of buying from India because of past experiences that were not very good. Such perceptions need to be changed because Indian business has changed and has become extremely professional in recent years.”
Leather Linkers’ Lalit Arora felt that the recent problems in Australia involving Indian students could have also played a part in a sense of wariness in Australian buyers’ approach to Indian businesses.
Agra based Metro & Metro’s Ajit and Meenakshi Kalsi supply a wide range of both women’s and men’s footwear to store chains like Sears, Wolverine and JC Penney and have established themselves as reliable suppliers of high quality products in the European and the US markets. “I think our experience in New Zealand is better than in Australia because it was better organised here,” Mr Kalsi said.
Sangita Gulati of Kolkata-based Rishi Arts has been dealing with the region for over four years. “We’ve been exporting bags, belts, garments and accessories to Australia and New Zealand for some time now. We also import lambskin from New Zealand,” she said pointing to a couple of bags made out of Kiwi lambskin. Her company that has tanneries in Kolkata and Chennai is looking at expanding its presence in both New Zealand and Australia.
Mr Bohra was rather disappointed with the manner in which the buyer-seller meet was organised on the delegation’s Australian leg of the tour – a sentiment that was shared by several other members. “I wish the organisers had marketed our trip better. It would have been much better if we had decision makers come to meet with us,” he said, but was happy with the arrangements in New Zealand.
Global Village Unlimited, the Wellington-based company that organised the New Zealand part of the visit also arranged visits to top Auckland stores in the course of the delegation’s two-day stay in the city. “This has been a very productive first visit and the delegation’s members are looking forward to following up with the contacts they have made,” GVU director Raga D’silva told Indian Weekender.
“GVU will help build on the contacts made between the potential buyers and sellers in the past two days,” Nicola Fenton of GVU said.