Nooruddin Rana:
The death of the leather industry in a Muslim-majority country
The most promising sector after ready-made garments for export.
The responsibility and failure of the destruction of the local raw material-based leather industry lies with the autocratic government. Which is being planned and widely expanded in neighboring India. Just as jute in Bangladesh has been destroyed and expanded to neighboring countries.
Bangladesh, with its large population, is witnessing the death of a potential industrial sector. Although Bangladesh, as a country with a young population, could have been one of the manufacturing centers of Asia.
The inevitable development of the leather industry, which was observed as a country with a Muslim population in the post-independence period, has now died in the last two decades.
The development and progress of various industrial sectors in the decades after independence have spread the dream of Bangladesh becoming a manufacturing country.
The leather industry in Bangladesh, which is the second largest export sector after the garment sector, is currently under extreme threat and in many cases it is being called “at death’s door”. The main reasons behind this have been the lack of environmental compliance, the ineffectiveness of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) of the Savar Tannery Industrial City, and the lack of international standards.
The current dire situation and reasons:
Lack of Leather Working Group (LWG) certification: World-renowned brands prefer to buy leather from LWG certified tanneries. But only 6 companies in Bangladesh have this certificate, which is missing out on a big opportunity in the international market.
Failure of Savar Tannery City: Although it was decided to shift the tannery from Hazaribagh to Savar in 2003, CETP has not become completely environmentally friendly even after a long time. Polluted waste is flowing into the Dhaleshwari River.
Declining export earnings: Despite having sufficient raw materials, exports of finished leather have decreased due to lack of compliance and have become dependent on China.
Cheap and low quality: Due to not being able to meet global standards, Bangladesh is forced to sell leather at half the price (an average of 85-90 cents per square foot).
Plight of workers: The tannery environment is so polluted that workers are at serious health risks due to working without proper safety measures.
Conflict of potential vs. reality:
Despite the dream of earning $12.5 billion in exports by 2030, current pollution and infrastructure problems are the biggest obstacles to achieving this goal.
How can this industry be saved? According to experts, the tannery village of Savar needs to be quickly and effectively developed as an environmentally friendly (Green Tannery), special initiatives must be taken to achieve international certification (LWG), and modern technology must be used in waste management.
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