Nepal to organise Leather Goods and Footwear Expo 2011

KATHMANDU, Dec 13 (Xinhua): With an objective of promoting national brands of footwear and leather goods, the eight Leather Goods and Footwear Expo 2011 will be organised from December 19-25 at the City Hall in Nepali capital Kathmandu. Domestic footwear companies, producers of raw materials for leather products and suppliers will be demonstrating their products in a common ground with sales facilities and discounts up to 15 per cent, Manoj Kumar Shrestha, coordinator of the expo organising committee, told press conference Monday. The week-long expo will help in promoting the usages of Nepali brand footwear and leather products by providing a common ground to the producers and suppliers of footwear and leather products, he said. It will also be an opportunity for consumers to know about national brand footwear and leather goods and purchase a wide range of choices at reasonable prices, he said. According to Leather Goods and Footwear Producers' Association Nepal, Nepalese brand footwear meets only around 45 per cent of the domestic demand at present. Nepalese producers are producing around 16 million pairs of footwear each year while the total domestic demand for footwear is around 32.5 million. Such an expo will contribute to increasing the market coverage of the domestic footwear, said Hom Nath Upadhyaya, President of Leather Goods and Footwear Producers' Association Nepal.