The export of leather and leather goods from Bangladesh has rebounded after more than two years due to higher shipments to non-traditional markets, exporters said. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the leather and leather products sector registered a growth rate of 1.32 per cent, resulting in earnings of $185.41 million in July-August of the current financial year. This figure was $183 million during the same period in the 2018-19 FY. Shaheen Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA), told The Independent that besides the traditional markets such as South Korea, China, European Union, US and Canada, the export of leather products has also increased in non-traditional ones like South Africa, India, Australia, Spain, Japan and Singapore. Moreover, the value addition to leather products was another reason behind the positive export trend, he added. Over the past two years, however, the leather sector had registered negative growth because of the slow shift of tanneries from Hazaribagh to the newly-built Savar Tannery Complex, he said. Ahmed informed that 160 leather units were shifted to Savar. Of these, 125 factories were fully functioning. They processed raw hide to crust leather and some of them even produced finished items. Exporters said work orders will further increase after a certification is attained from global rights body Labour Working Group (LWG) and the Savar estate’s central effluent treatment plant (CETP) becomes operational in December. The LWG certification is awarded to companies based on points awarded for factors such as treatment and less usage of water, solid waste management, chemical use and labour welfare. Saiful Islam, president of the Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), noted that competitive pricing, low labour cost and availability of raw material could help Bangladesh grab a bigger share of the global market of leather products. “If a long-term sustainable policy support is implemented, it would be possible to achieve a double digit growth rate,” Saiful said. The leather industry has been struggling for the past two years due to lack of new investment, lack of product variety, artificial leather penetration, price hike of leather products and lack of vigilance of the tannery estate hurt the sector’s growth and environment as well, industry insiders said. Exporters also blamed the US-China trade war for the slump. “China used to take raw hide from us and processed them further to make raw material. The US government has signalled an imposition of 25 per cent tariff on a number of Chinese products entering the US market, including leather. Eventually, this affected us badly and China stopped taking raw hide from us,” Notably, the government had declared this sector as the “Product of the Year-2017”.
