The Football Industry In Pakistan Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Overall, Pakistan has lost a significant share of the global production of footballs. To keep up with the industry, Pakistan producers have to focus on the opportunities of the market. • Pakistan’s main competitor is China. However, China’s labor costs have been increasing these last years, which may constitute a comparative advantage for Pakistan. Also, Pakistan produces higher quality hand-stitched balls while China produces machine-stitched balls. Pakistan has to promote the quality of its balls and differentiate his product from the lower quality machine stitched balls. • Other smaller exporters as Vietnam and Indonesia have also increased their share of the market in the last years. Their labor costs are also among the smallest in Asia. These two countries are the most threatening competitors. • Pakistan exports its footballs to North America and Europe (Germany and Belgium), but the demand has been rising in other countries and will soon form a rising market in need of producers. These countries are primarily in Latin America and Brazil is the biggest one. • Asia also has an interesting rising market. Two countries have substantial levels of imports: Japan and Korea. These countries have seen an increase in their net imports of inflatable balls and are a new opportunity for Pakistan’s exports. • In Pakistan, managers in the industry have been reluctant to adopt the new technology and to provide training to their workers. The industry needs to focus more on the technological changes while keeping the high quality of its products.