Bangladesh’s leather footwear exports are on a downward trend, as reported by the Export Promotion Bureau of the Government of Bangladesh. In the first nine months of fiscal 2023-2024, the country experienced a 13.65% decline in overall leather exports, amounting to 794.19 million US dollars, compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. This figure fell short of the strategic target by 21.16%, which was set at 1007.38 million US dollars. The decline was primarily attributed to the performance of the leather footwear segment.
From July 2023 to March 2024, Bangladesh’s exports of leather footwear totaled 391.69 million US dollars, marking a significant decrease of 26.68% compared to the corresponding months of fiscal year 2022-2023. This figure also missed the strategic target by 29.82%, set at 558.16 million US dollars.
Despite an increase of 2.68%, reaching 300.10 million US dollars, leather goods exports fell short of the strategic target by 13.88%, set at 348.48 million US dollars, during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
However, there was a notable growth of 9.82% in exports of finished leather, amounting to 100.74 million US dollars, surpassing the strategic target by 1.65%.
In addition, other footwear exports from Bangladesh saw a positive increase of 7.67% to 385.73 million US dollars from July to March of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. Despite this growth, it fell short of the strategic target by 6.03%, set at 410.42 million US dollars.
Bangladesh’s footwear industry has emerged as one of the world’s top 10 producers, with rapid export growth over the past decade, particularly in 2022. The country primarily exports to the US and European markets and relies heavily on imports from China.
