Policy support to double footwear exports in 3 yrs
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Arafat Ara
The government's policy support will help double the country's income from leather goods and footwear exports within the next three years, industry people said. The country is yet to grab 'sizable' share of locally manufactured leather goods and footwear in the international market, mainly due to lack of skilled labour, though the products have huge demand in the international market, they added. Foreign buyers are searching alternative sources switching from China which is now turning to heavy industries as its cost of production has gone up, president of Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association Saiful Islam said. "But we've failed to attract foreign investors who are trying to relocate their factories due to the shortage of skilled labour force in our sector," he added. "If we can take hold of overseas markets properly, export earning from this sector will stand at $600 million by 2014, which was only $340 million last fiscal," he added. There is no proper utilisation of the state-run-training institutes for skill development in the sector, Mr Islam said, adding the association can make the best use of it if the government allows it to use the institutes to generate skilled manpower. "If the government gives us the opportunity to use the training institutes, we can build skilled labour forces to flourish the sector," he added. The association president said they are providing training to grass- root level workforce, specially young labours and in this connection a training institute has been established at Gazipur. "But this is not sufficient to meet the huge demand," he said. According to the latest data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), footwear achieved 49.20 per cent export growth during the first ten months of the current fiscal. Earning from footwear export stood at $ 242.68 million during July-April period this fiscal, up from $ 162.65 million fetched during the corresponding period of last fiscal. The earning surpassed the target by 28.46 per cent fixed by the government for July-April of 2010-11 fiscal year. Besides, exports of leather goods, like handbags, travel bags, purses, and belts etc, increased to $ 48.21 million showing a robust growth of 126.55 per cent in July-April of the current fiscal year. The industry insiders said the demand of fashion leather goods like women hand bags and purses has increased in the overseas market gradually due to diversification of destinations. Bangladesh exports leather goods and footwear to many countries including the USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The government's policy support will help double the country's income from leather goods and footwear exports within the next three years, industry people said. The country is yet to grab 'sizable' share of locally manufactured leather goods and footwear in the international market, mainly due to lack of skilled labour, though the products have huge demand in the international market, they added. Foreign buyers are searching alternative sources switching from China which is now turning to heavy industries as its cost of production has gone up, president of Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association Saiful Islam said. "But we've failed to attract foreign investors who are trying to relocate their factories due to the shortage of skilled labour force in our sector," he added. "If we can take hold of overseas markets properly, export earning from this sector will stand at $600 million by 2014, which was only $340 million last fiscal," he added. There is no proper utilisation of the state-run-training institutes for skill development in the sector, Mr Islam said, adding the association can make the best use of it if the government allows it to use the institutes to generate skilled manpower. "If the government gives us the opportunity to use the training institutes, we can build skilled labour forces to flourish the sector," he added. The association president said they are providing training to grass- root level workforce, specially young labours and in this connection a training institute has been established at Gazipur. "But this is not sufficient to meet the huge demand," he said. According to the latest data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), footwear achieved 49.20 per cent export growth during the first ten months of the current fiscal. Earning from footwear export stood at $ 242.68 million during July-April period this fiscal, up from $ 162.65 million fetched during the corresponding period of last fiscal. The earning surpassed the target by 28.46 per cent fixed by the government for July-April of 2010-11 fiscal year. Besides, exports of leather goods, like handbags, travel bags, purses, and belts etc, increased to $ 48.21 million showing a robust growth of 126.55 per cent in July-April of the current fiscal year. The industry insiders said the demand of fashion leather goods like women hand bags and purses has increased in the overseas market gradually due to diversification of destinations. Bangladesh exports leather goods and footwear to many countries including the USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.