Footwear Industry In Bangladesh Essay

Footwear Industry in Bangladesh

Although Bangladesh export basket is heavily skewed towards RMG export, several new sectors have cropped up over the last decade. Footwear is one such sector which has tremendous potential to significantly boost country’s export while diversifying the economy’s export basket.

Bangladesh’s Footwear Export is growing

Bangladesh’s footwear export has doubled during 2010-13 and continues to rise further as illustrated below. Bangladesh is involved in export of components at various stages of footwear value chain ranging from raw materials to work-in-progress such as soles and finished goods like shoes. Bangladesh earned around 419 million USD during 2013 by exporting footwear, with a growth rate of 25% (Export Promotion

These entities have come under criticism for being environmentally unfriendly prompting the government to build a 200 acre Leather Industrial Park in Savar including utilities at a cost of USD 60 Million. The park will include state of art Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) as well to treat the waste generated while processing the leather in the tanneries. 50% of the construction has already been completed. Additionally, leather industry is considered blue-chip by Bangladesh Bank (BB) and recently the central bank has given leather industry a boost with relaxing policies for shifting to Savar so that footwear sector can flourish.

The domestic market in Bangladesh has potential for growth as well. This is due to rising per capita income which has recently passed the USD 1,000 mark. In addition, the economic conditions of the countries in this region is changing rapidly with increasing economic growth translating to higher per capita income and in turn, more purchasing power. This is going to pull the demand for products such as footwear upward as they move from being a necessity to a more brand and status oriented