Trade

Bangladeshi leather footwear exports down by 33%

Jan 9, 2024 Bangladesh

In the first half of the fiscal year 2023-2024, Bangladesh’s leather footwear exports fell by 33% year-over-year, leading to an overall decline in the country’s leather exports

According to the Export Promotion Bureau of the Government of Bangladesh, from July to December 2023, Bangladeshi leather exports decreased by 17.03%, on a comparable basis to the same period of the previous fiscal year, totalling 523.0 million US dollars. This figure was 20.23% below the strategic target set for the period of 655.71 million US dollars.

The performance of the leather footwear segment was the main driver of this result. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the country’s leather footwear exports amounted to 257.90 million US dollars, down by 32.72%, as compared to a similar period of fiscal 2022-2023. This result was 29.01% lower than the strategic target set for the period of 363.31 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi leather goods exports increased by 4.15% in these six months, reaching 197.76 million US dollars, on a comparable basis to the first half of the last fiscal year. Nevertheless, this figure was 12.82% below the strategic target set for the period of 226.83 million US dollars.

With a very modest performance, exports of finished leather remained in the green zone in the first half of fiscal 2023-2024. Exports in this segment grew by 5.10% year-over-year to 67.37 million US dollars, 2.75% above the strategic target set for the period of 65.57 million US dollars.

The data also shows that in the first six months of the current financial year, other footwear exports amounted to 246.15 million US dollars, down by 1.85%, as compared to the same period of fiscal 2022-2023. This figure was also 7.86% lower than the strategic target set for the period of 267.14 million US dollars.

Bangladeshi Footwear Industry

Bangladesh has emerged as one of the world’s top 10 producers of footwear, according to the World Footwear 2023 Yearbook (more information available HERE). The Asian country’s exports have been growing at a rapid pace over the past decade, with a further 20% increase recorded in 2022. Bangladesh exports mainly to the US and European markets and imports almost exclusively from China.

Image Credits: Sazzad Aryan on Unsplash

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