In the first ten months of the current fiscal year*, Bangladeshi leather exports increased by 32.97%, as compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year, totalling 1.01 billion US dollars. The export level was 18.7% above the strategic target of 852.36 million US dollars. The data from the Export Promotion Bureau of the Government of Bangladesh also shows that the leather industry is on track to surpass the strategic target set of 1.03 billion US dollars for the full financial year.  

Leather footwear exports, which represented roughly 60% of the total value, grew by 31.46%  in this period, on a comparable basis to similar period of the previous fiscal year, amounting to 607.00 million US dollars. The figure exceeded the strategic target set of 512.58 million US dollars by 18.42%.

In the ten months to April 2022, leather goods exports reached 273.18 million US dollars, up by 34.51% from the same period in the past fiscal year. The performance of this segment was also above the strategic target set of  231.90 million US dollars by 17.80%. Finished leather exports rose by 36.93%, generating 131.59 million US dollars, over the established target set of 107.89 million US dollars by 21.97%.

Other footwear exports increased by 34.92% during the first ten months of the current fiscal year, adding up to 374.9 million US dollars, on a comparable basis to the period of July 2020 – April 2021. The export level was 13.37% % above the strategic target set of 330.69 million US dollars.

Bangladeshi Footwear Industry

The World Footwear 2021 Yearbook (AVAILABLE HERE) shows that, in 2020, Bangladesh was the 8^th largest footwear producer (423 million pairs) and the 9^th largest consumer market (366 million pairs). Most of its production supplies the internal market: only 72 million pairs were exported in 2020 (making it the 16th largest exporter of footwear). Exports have been growing consistently and sharply for years, but dropped in 2020 for the first time in a decade.

*Bangladesh's financial year runs from July to June