Non-leather footwear export falls in Q1

The country's non-leather footwear export that recorded a significant growth over the last five years to double its earnings now faces a setback during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as shipments witnessed a negative growth.

Bangladesh fetched US$124.07 million from non-leather footwear exports marking a negative growth of over 1.0 per cent, according to official data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Non-leather footwear export earnings stood at US$478.86 million in the last fiscal year of 2022-23 marking a 6.61 per cent year on year growth when major non-RMG (readymade garment) items including agricultural products, frozen fish and shrimp, leather and leather goods, jute and jute goods, engineering products and pharmaceuticals recorded negative growth.

The country earned US$244 million from non-leather footwear in the fiscal year of 2017-18, data shows.

Bangladesh supplies synthetic or non-leather shoes to international buyers and brands including H&M, Puma, Decathlon, Fila, and Kappa while its main export destinations are France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Morocco, Turkey and the USA.

Industry insiders said global buyers consider Bangladesh a potential sourcing destination for non-leather footwear as they look to reduce their reliance on China- the leading exporter of non-leather footwear.

But now they are in a cautious situation in placing work orders due to the global geo-political context.

The Russia-Ukraine war has put a negative impact on the non-leather footwear shipments like other sectors including RMG as demands for such items have declined, they opined.

"There is a change in the consumption pattern of western customers due to the current global geo-political context. They have become more economic in purchasing goods like footwear," Mohammad Shahadat Ullah, executive director of Maf Shoes Limited, said.

After the Covid pandemic, they expected to turn around, he said but the Russia-Ukraine war has a significant impact on the economic conditions of major importing countries.

Moreover, they did not get the expected work orders shifted from China, he said, adding that buyers are taking China plus strategy due to high cost there.

He, however, expressed hope that the situation would improve with the normalisation of current external situation.

"India being one of the largest footwear consumption countries that is largely dependent on China has also been looking for alternative," he said, adding they are getting inquiries from Indian buyers.

Experts and economists stressed the need for exportable product diversification to reduce the country's large dependency on RMG and suggested both leather and non-leather footwear items as the potential ones in this connection.

China's move into higher value-added products due to high labour cost there which is evident from their decreasing share in synthetic manufacturing, they said adding that brands looking for diversifying their supply chain have created opportunities for Bangladesh.

Global exports of footwear in 2018 reached 14.75 billion pairs while Bangladesh contributes only 2 per cent of the world's footwear production, according to them.

[email protected]