Though the government has declared leather as a priority sector, its export potential is yet to be realised. Even so, in FY 2021-22, its earning from exports at US$1.25 billion was the highest in a decade. Unsurprisingly, in the last fiscal (FY2022-23), the government expected a 15.64 per cent year-on-year export growth from this sector. However, the expectation could not be fully met, as the export earnings fell short of the target of US$1.44 billion by 1.5 per cent. The different projects undertaken by the commerce ministry to improve the leather and footwear industry's export potential, too, did not prove effective.
It is against this backdrop that the three-day (October 12-14) Bangladesh Leather Footwear & Leather goods International Sourcing Show (BLLISS-23)' has been organised by the commerce ministry in collaboration with the 'Leather goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB)'in the city. This is to provide an effective platform to connect the international leather and leather products' buyers, brands and sourcing representatives with the top level manufacturers and exporters of this sector in Bangladesh. Obviously, the aim is to catalyse effective networking among all the local and international operators of the leather sector to develop business as well as present the sector's investment potential before the global community. Through such efforts, Bangladesh can be turned into an international source point of leather products and footwear. Such an expectation is not quite unfounded seeing that the international buyers of leather and leather products as well as investors in this sector are now looking beyond China and Vietnam in search of new centres of sourcing. So, with its 3.0 per cent share in global leather and leather product market, Bangladesh is well-placed to play a significant role in this regard.
As the government in its Vision 2041 has set an overall export target of US$300 billion, the leather sector, as the second biggest export earner after the Readymade Garments (RMG), will be expected to play its due role to turn the vision into a reality. As expected, in the shorter term, the leather goods and the footwear sector has been set an export target worth US$5.0 billion by 2030. Of course, the need for improving quality of leather and leather products including footwear and diversifying products and their export destinations are a sine qua non for achieving the target.
However, it is one thing to set a high target, but it is quite another to achieve it. In this connection, the government has to first take stock of the domestic factors stymieing the expected growth of leather sector. Take the case of compliance issues such as the certification from the Leather Working Group (LWG). Without this certification, neither the leather that local tanners process, nor the leather products including the footwear produced here can enter the international market. The few leather goods producers that have LWG certificationin the country, some three in number, too, cannot use local leather to manufacture their products for export to Western markets. As a result, they have to import finished leather to make their products exportable. The situation is not going to change, until the compliance of the Savar Tannery Estate is ensured. So, to achieve the ambitious export targets as set for the leather sector, the task ahead will be to complete first the Savar Tannery Industrial Estate's infrastructure with a fully functional Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). Hopefully, the government is up to the task.
