Lack of compliance and international certification are posing major hindrances in the path of fostering leather goods export growth, speakers opined at seminar, suggesting to immediate formulate an integrated roadmap for this highly potential sector.
The seminar titled “Sustainable Export Growth in Post LDC Era: Strategies for the Leather Sector” was organized by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) at its conference room.
Taskeen Ahmed, President of the chamber, presided over the seminar.
Taskeen observed that the leather sector, the second-highest export earner after RMG is potential for value addition, employment generation and sustainable industrial growth particularly in the post-LDC era when preferential trade benefits may gradually phase out.
However, Bangladesh lags behind in the global market, contributing less than 1% to the global leather industry, he commented
Speaking as the chief guest Adilur Rahman Khan, Adviser, Ministry of Industries said that international certification is crucial for the competitiveness of the leather sector as the buyers offer lower price to the exporters lacking environmental certification.
“At present we have only three Leather Working Group (LWG) certified tanneries in Bangladesh. Recognizing these realities, the Ministry of Industries is working to create a supportive policy environment that can enable long-term transformation, he said”, he said.
Md. Hafizur Rahman, Administrator of FBCCI said that image crisis is an issue in attracting FDI in the leather sector. Inbound foreign investment is low due to lack of LWG certification as a result entrepreneurs are being deprived of getting good prices for their products.
He also expressed his thought in favour of CETP, as it is easy to operate the cost of CETP collectively as well as it is easy to monitor single CETP. If the industry players can maintain the ESG compliance, it will be easier to get LWG certificates and it will help to attract FDI, because we have a lot of low costraw materials here.
Md. Saiful Islam, Chairman, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) said the capacity of the CETP installed in Savar is currently 14 thousand cubic meters and the demand during the peak season is 32-35 thousand cubic meters, a technical team is working to increase the capacity of the CETP, so it can be increased up to 20-25 thousand cubic meters.
Syed Nasim Manzur, Managing Director, Apex Footwear Ltd. while presenting the keynote paper said it has been many years since the tanneries have been shifted from Hazaribagh to Savar, but the CETP has not been fully operationalized out of its full capacity, which is hampering the export growth.
He also said that Bangladesh is not becoming competitive in the global market as we do not have any international certification like leather working group (LWG) and the products are not getting good prices, adding that the absence of compliance in the leather industry is one of the reasons.
