Data from the Export Promotion Bureau shows that during the July–May period of the current fiscal year 2023–24, Bangladesh’s leather footwear exports decreased by over 26 per cent, while its exports of non-leather footwear climbed by almost 7 per cent.
Exporters ascribed this move to shifts in recent years in patterns of global demand, as traditional leather goods have been gradually replaced by artificial leather.
They said that reasons like rising inflation and shifting fashion trends had caused the size of the leather footwear market globally to decline overall.
Furthermore, they stated that the country’s tannery industry’s disregard for environmental regulations resulted in a decline in the export of leather footwear made in Bangladesh.
According to the EPB data, Bangladesh’s export earnings from leather footwear in the first 11 months of FY ’24 fell by 25.92 per cent to US $ 477.24 million compared with those of US $ 644.18 million in the same period of FY ’23.
However, the export earnings from non-leather footwear in the July-May period of FY ’24 grew by 6.87 per cent to US $ 463.33 million compared with of US $ 433.53 million in the same period of FY ’23. The data showed that the export earnings from non-leather footwear more than doubled in the past five years. The exports of non-leather footwear increased to US $ 478.86 million in FY ’23 compared with those of US $ 244.09 million in FY19.
“Demand for footwear has shifted from leather to non-leather and synthetic items in recent years due to the global economic slowdown,” Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturer and Exporters Association Bangladesh president Md Saiful Islam told local media.
Additionally, he claimed that the global fashion market had transformed as a result of rising inflation since non-leather footwear was now far less expensive than leather goods.
Saiful added that another factor reducing the export of leather shoes was the tannery industry in Bangladesh’s noncompliance with environmental regulations.
‘Our tanneries have shifted to Savar from Hazaribagh in Dhaka, but we have not ensured environmental compliance in the new industrial zone due to a non-functional central effluent treatment plant,’ he said.
According to Saiful, also Picard Bangladesh Limited’s managing director, while some businesses have received accreditation from the Leather Working Group, it is insufficient for them to be competitive in the global market.
He said that although leather goods are more expensive, they last longer than synthetic leather ones.
According to the EPB data, Bangladesh’s export revenue from leather and leather goods decreased by 14.17 per cent to US $ 961.49 million between July and May of FY ’24 compared to US $ 1.12 billion during the same period in FY ’23.
