Leather Industry of Bangladesh

INTRODUCTION TO THE INDUSTRY

Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. Leather was a very important clothing material, and its other uses were legion. Leatherworking is one of the oldest crafts known to humankind. The first leather objects were primarily functional, but people soon learned the decorative potential of the material. The timeless appeal of leather lies in its luxurious texture, warm color, wholesome aroma, and exceptional durability. The world's love affair with fine leather continues to be influenced as much by its appeal as a status symbol as by its utilitarian value.

An Overview of Leather Industry of Bangladesh:

Leather industry is a traditional industrial sector. Enrich with Domestic raw material, this industry has a special position in export sectors. In 1972, about 1140 million taka was earned from this sector. Now this sector earns more than 120000 million taka. By anglicizing this sector, it is called the second biggest industry based on domestic raw materials. Bangladeshi leather has an extra attraction in foreign market, especially Black Bengal. The tannery industry has built up by the availability of hid and skin of animals.

Bangladesh leather industry is based on three different sections.

1. Finished leather
2. Footwear
3. Leather goods.

Finished leather:

The leather industry in Bangladesh is estimated to be over half- a century old. By and large, it has progressed with gradual development in terms of output of Finished Leather, Leather Footwear and Leather goods. There are over 240 tanneries in the country with annual output of about 200 million sq.ft.

Footwear Sector in Bangladesh:

According to base-line survey conducted by Bangladesh Leather Service Centre (BLSC), there are about 1809 enterprises/workshops dealing in Footwear and 136 dealing in leather goods. Out of these 708 and 128 enterprises respectively are in Dhaka. Rests are outside Dhaka. Most of these are very small and micro enterprises/Artisans. More than 80% of them engage up to 10 workers. 93.5% of the footwear units have production capacity between 50 -200 pairs per day. All types of Sandals account for nearly 80% of total production. About 25-30 are fully mechanized footwear plants, out of which more than 10 units have their own source of upper leather and a few of them have also own facilities of manufacturing soling materials (TPR,NR, ABS etc.)

Export of Leather and Footwear:

Bangladesh earned 288 million US dollar from the export of leather and leather footwear in the year 2000/2001. The total export earning of the country for the same year stood at 6.47 billion dollar. In other words, leather and footwear accounted for about 4.5 percent of total export of the country. The share of leather sector in the total export declined over the years. The Leather sector now contributes less than 5% to the total export compared to 7% about a decade ago. The trend of total export of leather and footwear for the past half a decade is shown in the following table.