Imports Squeeze Local Craftsmen

Made of soft imitation leather and decorated with rhinestones and buckles, Chinese shoes are a coveted item in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Women crowd the bazaars in search of elegantly-styled imported shoes because they are lighter and more feminine-looking than Afghan-made footwear. Shoppers also say that Chinese shoes are more comfortable than Afghan ones, and cost less.

But the popularity of the imports has hurt Afghan craftsmen. Under the Taleban, the country’s borders with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were officially closed to trade. But since the fall of the fundamentalist regime, foreign goods have poured into northern Afghanistan. Goods from China – including shoes, cosmetics and electronics - are among the most popular.

“From the time that imports of Chinese shoes started, we became jobless,” said Habibullah, 25, who has been a shoemaker for seven years. “No one buys our shoes. We have only this way of earning money and it is very difficult for us to do any other business,” he said.

Habibullah and other shoemakers say the Afghan government should urge traders to import raw materials instead of ready-made shoes. “If they import materials, they can earn money and we can have our jobs too,” he said.

Faizullah, who has been a cobbler for 23 years, agreed.

“Action by the government, the Ministry of Commerce, is essential,” he said.

After an Afghan cobblers’ union sought help from President Hamed Karzai, customs officials were asked to urge traders to import raw materials rather than ready-made goods, said Habibullah Ranjbar, head of the customs house in Balkh province.

But the president’s request does not carry the force of law. And, Ranjbar said, the government is reluctant to impose restrictions on ready-made imports when Afghanistan does not have the capacity to produce such goods itself.

It’s not just shoemakers who are struggling in the newly competitive environment. Sardaar, a tailor, said that his business has also been hit hard.

“As imported clothes have the latest designs, the people like them best and buy them a lot,” he said. He’d like to see the government “establish tailoring companies and encourage tailors to produce good clothes so that they can even export them abroad.”

Although foreign goods were smuggled across borders under the Taleban, the volume of imports has increased dramatically in the last two and a half years. Ranjbar said that, in the days leading up to the Afghan New Year, or Now Roz, in March, traders were bringing in 20,000 pairs of Chinese shoes a day.

Ranjbar said that the Chinese items usually come into northern Afghanistan via Hairaton, a town bordering on Uzbekistan, or Shir Khan, close to the frontier with Tajikistan.

He said the main challenge facing Afghan craftsmen is the lack of manufacturing equipment, without which even skilled workers cannot produce the goods customers want.

“Clothes, shoes and carpets are made by machines abroad, while they are made by hand here,” he said. “And of course there is a big difference between machine-made and handmade goods.”

At least one cobbler has decided to give up his trade. “I made shoes in the past, but now I import goods from China and Pakistan,” said Noor Aqa, who runs the Kamal store in Mazar.

Farima, a student in Mazar-e-Sharif, said she would buy Afghan shoes – if only she could find them. “I cannot find any Afghan shoes in the markets. Chinese shoes are bad to wear in summer as they are made of plastic,” she said, referring to the imitation leather used in Chinese shoes.

Some items like cosmetics and electronics are not manufactured in Afghanistan and must be imported. Baseer Ahmad, a resident of Karte Bukhdi who recently purchased a Chinese-made electrical heater in a Mazar market, told IWPR that the government should impose selective trade restrictions.

“Some of the imported items, like DVD and CD players, heaters, tape recorders and cameras, are cheap and good for our people as we cannot make them inside the country. But shoes and carpets can be made here; these items should not be imported,” he said.

Latifa Jaffari is an independent journalist with IWPR in Mazar-e-Sharif.