Editorial, News & commercial office:
55/A, H M Siddique Mansion (Level-7), Purana Paltan, Motijhel C/A, Dhaka-1000. Phone: +8802226640056,
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Photo: Collected
The Ministry of Commerce on Thursday (September 24) officially published a targeted action-oriented operational roadmap designed to modernize Bangladesh's tannery sector, achieve international Leather Working Group (LWG) environmental certification, and propel annual leather and footwear export earnings to $5 billion by 2030.
The policy roadmap was unveiled in conjunction with the inauguration of a three-day international leather and footwear machinery exposition at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka, organized jointly by the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) and the Leather Engineers and Technologists Society.
Bangladesh currently ranks eighth globally in aggregate footwear manufacturing volume, generating over 270 million square feet of finished and semi-finished leather annually. However, persistent environmental non-compliance at the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) in Savar Tannery Estate has historically locked domestic tanners out of high-margin Western luxury fashion brands.
Under the freshly enacted roadmap, the government will extend concessional green financing and fiscal tax rebates to tanners that install dedicated in-house chromium recovery systems, biological effluent scrubbers, and solid waste processing facilities. The framework also simplifies raw chemical import customs procedures.
Industry leaders emphasized that achieving full LWG compliance would allow local manufacturers to bypass third-country processing and sell directly to global fashion houses, potentially adding over 300,000 formal industrial jobs across the Savar and Gazipur manufacturing belts.
Commerce ministry officials stated that technical collaboration agreements have been initiated with testing laboratories in Italy and Germany to certify local footwear factories, paving the way for direct supply contracts with major global footwear retailers.
https://thedailyexpress.news/news/business/1f1b8337-b5e3-6350-83f5-fb5fc15b7049