The government is preparing a workable roadmap to identify the problems of the leather and footwear industry, tap the potential of the domestic market and increase exports. The draft roadmap will be published on the commerce ministry’s website for stakeholders’ comments, commerce secretary Md Ataur Rahman Khan has said.
He was speaking as chief guest on Thursday at the opening of the 10th Bangladesh Leather and Footwear Expo 2026 at the International Convention City Bashundhara in Kuril, Dhaka.
A high-level committee chaired by the commerce minister has been formed for the overall development of the leather industry, the commerce secretary said. In line with the prime minister’s instructions, the commerce ministry is working on an action-oriented roadmap for the industry, which will reflect the practical experience and needs of tannery owners, manufacturers, traders, technologists and everyone else involved.
Highlighting the potential of the domestic market, he said the raw material for the leather industry is available in the country and the capacity of local technologists has grown. There is scope to encourage people to use more domestically made leather goods and to increase exports to international markets.
The commerce secretary said the government would help meet foreign buyers’ requirements and standards to boost exports. Entrepreneurs need information and support on environmental and social responsibility, technical capacity and international market demand, he said. To that end, the commerce ministry is working on a framework for responsible business conduct and a national traceability framework, with plans for separate traceability systems for priority sectors.
Md Ataur Rahman Khan stressed the need for closer cooperation between industry and academic institutions to strengthen research in the leather sector. Links between leather technology students and researchers on one side and tannery owners and entrepreneurs on the other need to be made more effective, he said, and efforts will be made to include this in the roadmap.
The organisers said the leather industry ranks second only to ready-made garments in earning foreign exchange for Bangladesh. The industry has bright prospects for entering new markets and strengthening its position in existing ones, which requires proper planning and special initiatives. Bangladesh exports processed leather as well as shoes, travel bags, belts and wallets, and there is demand for various leather luxury goods, which many of the country’s handicraft businesses make and ship to world markets. Besides the large companies, there are about 5,500 small footwear factories in the country. Bangladesh is the world’s eighth-largest footwear producer and ninth-largest consumer market.
The country produces an estimated 270 million square feet of leather a year. Most of it is exported, and the rest is used by the domestic leather goods industry. Bangladeshi leather is mainly exported to Italy, South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Domestic demand for footwear is also growing fast, and local companies are receiving footwear orders from well-known international brands. As a result, many leather and leather goods manufacturers have already started to expand.
The exhibition, organised by the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), the Leather Engineers and Technologists Society, Bangladesh (LETSB) and Limra Trade Fairs and Exhibitions Private Limited, runs from September 24 to 26, 2026 at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Kuril. It is open from 10am to 7pm each day, and more than 250 well-known local and foreign companies are taking part.
Benazir Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), was special guest, and Md Sakhawat Ullah, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Tanners Association, presided. Representatives of the Tanners Association and the Leather Engineers and Technologists Society Bangladesh, along with local and foreign traders, manufacturers and technologists, were present.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report