Govt to set up Leather Industry Development Authority: PM Hasina

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said a leather industry development authority will be formed to help thrive the country’s leather and leather goods sector.

“I am announcing a leather development authority for the development of the leather industry. We, the Prime Minister’s Office, will form a leather industry development authority separately,” she said.

The premier made this announcement while inaugurating the 4th edition of Bangladesh Leather Footwear and Leather Goods International Sourcing Show (BLLISS-2023) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.

But the BLLISS-2023 is being held at International Convention City Bashundhara till Saturday next.

Hasina said her government has a plan to develop area-based tannery industry (industrial estates) in several more places including Chattogram and Rajshahi in the country in phases.

“If we can do it (develop area-based tannery industry), the preservation, processing and use of leathers would go up. Because, it will develop as a big industry for us,” she said.

The prime minister asked all concerned to preserve rawhides properly and to take proper measures to modernize slaughtering houses to this end.

She asked the industry owners to pay taxes, gas and electricity bills properly as well as take care of the wellbeing of their workers as they earned revenues for the owners.

The PM said the leather goods and footwear industry has overtaken jute and jute products in export earnings over the last decade. “Stepping into a higher value addition level, it (the leather goods and footwear industry) has become the second largest export earning sector after the ready-made garments,” she said.

Noting that it is a labour intensive sector, she said some 2 lakh people directly and another 10 lakh indirectly were employed in the sector. “Bangladesh is the world’s 8th largest footwear producer, 11th largest consumer and 17th largest (footwear) exporter,” she added.

She said the local market for different products including leather goods is expanding with the rise of purchasing power of the local people.

Mentioning that “Possible. In Bangladesh” – the theme of BLLISS-2023, Sheikh Hasina said she also believes possible in Bangladesh as the unprecedented developmental transformation, taken place in Bangladesh through public-private initiatives in the recent years, has been aptly reflected.

She said Bangladeshi exporters of leather goods and footwear are producing and exporting high quality and diversified products and fulfilling the purchase orders from the world renowned brands and buyers.

The PM said many reputed foreign companies take unfinished goods from Bangladesh and make these as finished products in their country and then market these goods as their brands.

In this context, she stressed the need for paying attention to developing some goods as brands of Bangladesh by producing and marketing finished products here.

PM Hasina said her government would extend all sort of cooperation in case of developing the brands of Bangladesh in this regard. “We want our products to be marketed under the name of our own brands and the image of our country to be brightened,” she said.

The premier said the government has successfully made three significant changes in this sector during its three consecutive tenures, including commercial farms spread throughout the country and a revolution attained in rearing livestock, expansion of leather goods and footwear industry, and relocation of Hazaribagh tannery units to Savar modern tannery estate.

She said some 25 million cattle are reared annually for slaughtering and Bangladesh is now able to supply 100 percent of the sacrificial animals during the holy Eid-ul Azha.

She said just a decade ago in this sector, the bulk of the country’s export earnings came mainly from the export of raw leather materials. With the government’s incentives and policy support, the manufacturing industry of high value added products such as footwear and leather goods has expanded, and created much interest among the entrepreneurs to invest in this sector, she added.

“Now about 93 percent of the export income of this sector is coming from footwear and leather goods,” she said.

She said the government has already formed a task force to make recommendations and formulate action plans for the development of the leather industry, formulated Leather and Leather Products Development Policy 2019.

“If we can produce and export finished products against 100 percent of our growing supply, we will easily be able to achieve USD 3 billion export revenue from the leather goods and footwear sector by 2025. I want the overall export earnings from this sector to increase to 10 billion US dollars by 2030,” she said.

She said some 150 acres of land will be there for the development of composite leather products and footwear factories in the expansion project of Savar Leather Industrial Estate. The land will be allocated against the LFMEAB members on priority basis for investment.

The prime minister asked the authorities concerned to end red-tape bureaucracy and to implement decisions quickly.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Senior Secretary of the Commerce Ministry Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Founder of Golden Chang Group James Ho and Founder & Chairman of Advanced Manufacturing Group Jonathan Bobbett spoke on the occasion.

President of Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) Syed Nasim Manzur delivered the welcome speech. (UNB)