An international sourcing show for leather and footwear is going to be held in the capital next month to promote the country as a major sourcing destination for footwear and leather goods.
The three-day long event will be aimed, among other things, at exploring opportunities that may arise for Bangladesh's footwear and leather manufacturers in the wake of the US-China trade war, officials said on Tuesday.
Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh, the country's main trade body for leather goods and footwear, along with the Ministry of Commerce will organise the sourcing event from November 22 to 24.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the event which is scheduled to be held at the International Convention City Bashundhara in the capital.
The sourcing event is going to be held at a time when the world's two major economic superpowers are in a major face-off with both the countries imposing a series of trade tariffs on each other.
Back in July this year, the US imposed 25 per cent tariffs on US$34 billion of imported Chinese goods as part of President Donald Trump's tariffs policy, which then led China to respond with similarly sized tariffs on US products.
A tariff on an additional US$ 16 billion of Chinese imports was added in mid-August with China responding proportionately.
A further tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods came into effect on September 24 to which China plans to respond to with tariffs on $60 billion of US goods.
"The US-China trade spat means that many of the world's major names in footwear and leather goods may look to relocate their sourcing destination from China to other sourcing destinations in Asia," said a high-level representative of LFMEAB.
"Bangladesh, which is one of the fastest growing destinations for leather goods and footwear can benefit from this possible trend," he added.
China is the world's number one exporter of footwear, with 34 per cent of the world's shoes is being exported from this country.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, has a meagre share of 1.6 per cent of the international footwear market.
However, the leather goods and footwear industry has achieved a growth of 342.36 per cent in last 10 years.
In the third quarter of this year, the country exported leather goods and footwear worth US$ 392.59 million to the overseas, up from US$ 334.81 million it exported during the same period last year.
"399 million pairs of shoes are produced annually in the country while it is also the raw material source of 330 million square feet of leather," LFMEAB Executive Director Kazi Roushan Ara told the FE.
"International brands like Adidas, Aldo, Timberlanm, Marks and Spencer, Clarks, Nike are already sourcing from Bangladesh," she said.
Experts noted that the country is already enjoying tariff and quota-free access to the European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan while it also has an integrated production chain from raw materials to footwear.
In this context, the country has very good potential to emerge as a major alternative sourcing destination for footwear in the global market, industry insiders said.
"Apart from the ongoing trade war, the event would also focus on how the country can cope with global price pressure in the leather and footwear market and how to shift to original design manufacturing to increase the export competitiveness," Additional Secretary of Commerce Ministry Obaidul Azam said.
"The sourcing show would also highlight and share the leather sector roadmap that has been recently formulated with the relevant industry stakeholders," he added.
Visitors from 23 countries including Germany, France, the USA, Australia, China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam are expected to take part in the event.
