Bangladesh Footwear export to the US rose 64% in 2022

[Bilal9]

Local exporters hoped that the US would be the bigger market than the European Union for Bangladeshi footwear in the coming days​

Factory in Chittagong manufacturing steel-toed workboots for US market
Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Desk
Published: March 27, 2023 3:33 AM | Last updated: March 27, 2023 3:33 AM

Bangladesh's footwear exports to the United States increased by 64.40% to $451.40 million last year, against $274.58 million in 2021 as US buyers were relocating their sourcing from China and Vietnam.

Local exporters hoped that the US would be the bigger market than the European Union for Bangladeshi footwear in the coming days thanks to the diversion of export orders from China.

They also said that US buyers were going for country-of-origin diversification and Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Cambodia were getting the benefit of increased orders for the footwear.

According to the US Department of Commerce data, Bangladesh's leather footwear exports in 2022 to the US market also grew by 63.25% to $406.49 million from that of $249 million in the past year.

The total US imports of footwear from the world in 2022 increased by 32.51% to $33.43 billion compared with that of $25.23 billion in 2021, the data showed.

The import of footwear by the US from China in 2022 grew by 23% to $12.15 billion from $9.88 billion in 2021.

Footwear imports by the US from Vietnam in 2022 increased by 41.19% to $10.48 billion from $7.42 billion in the past year.

India's footwear exports to the US market grew by 64.19% to $745.03 million in 2022, the data showed.

Footwear exports by Indonesia to the US in 2022 rose by 53.04% to $3 billion from $1.96 billion in the previous year.

The US footwear import from Cambodia in 2022 grew by 47.68% to $1 billion from $678.18 million in 2021, the US data showed.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh's export earnings from footwear in 2022 increased 25.63% to $1.28 billion from $1.02 billion in 2021.
Of the $1.28 billion, $795.53 million came from shipping leather footwear.

The EPB data showed that Bangladesh's footwear exports to the European Union in 2022 stood at $540.33 million.

 

[bluesky]

$451 million export of footwear is not even 1 percent of BD’s potentiality. I can see somehow this industry is not growing the way it should.

BD produces hides and skin. But, the quality of tanning is not internationally accepted. Design of the footwear cannot probably developed unless Italian designers are hired.

Tanneries have moved to Savar from Hazaribag area. But the new Water Treatment Plant has been built by an Indian good for nothing company. As a result, the Savar area canals are getting polluted.

 

[Bilal9]

$451 million export of footwear is not even 1 percent of BD’s potentiality. I can see somehow this industry is not growing the way it should.

It will take time to grow bhai. US diversified its sourcing of these products, Vietnam and Indonesia have the lions share of the production. I am sure this will grow in the coming years. About $500 Million to USA and the same amount to EU is a Billion dollars worth of shoes. This was unthinkable a decade ago.

Production of these shoes are batch specific and orders are cyclical. Just like apparel.

Good news is we have athletic and work-shoe production expertise in scads, even for local use. And local shoe quality is not bad, it has come up to par with global standards.

Global quality athletic (Tennis, Jogging) shoe production/export in Bangladesh started in 1991, far earlier than India or any other South Asian country. Indonesia was the only competitor to Bangladesh then and I have to admit, their products were quite nice. Taiwanese and Korean investors had set up factories in Indonesia.

This was the period when Korea and Taiwan was just getting too expensive to produce athletic shoes in and entire Korean/Taiwanese factories were being bought out and transferred to coastal factories in China.

I knew most of the Bangladeshi entrepreneur uncles in Chittagong personally as they were my dad's friends (members of Dhaka and Ctg. chambers) and they had done the same thing in Chittagong, without involvement of Taiwanese and Korean investors. Talking about export-grade non-leather jogging shoes Made in Chittagong which were equal in quality to anything made globally.

Bangladesh athletic shoe export got hampered because China defeated almost all Asian countries (in cost) in that sector for a while.

Things stabilized in Bangladesh past mid-2000s when Korean entrepreneurs set up several huge five or six line factories in Chittagong. These are all brand-name OEM athletic shoes and workboots made in that location (Nike, Adidas, Puma etc.).

 

[Bilal9]

Interesting video about SME shoe producers from Bangladesh exporting their shoes overseas.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

Another feather in BD's cap! May SHW continue with her good work

Regards

 

[Bilal9]

Another feather in BD's cap! May SHW continue with her good work

Regards

You keep congratulating Hasina, she did nothing to help all this. It is the local entrepreneurs who got the investments and set up infra to produce and export the products.

If anything - Hasina and her team of low level goonda a$$ clowns hindered the export process. AL goondas stop container trucks on the way to the port, regularly asking for "ransom". She did nothing to stop this behavior.

Not to talk about harassments by customs and immigration people.

Hasina is a hindrance to our development. Only thing she does is take percentages from all the development projects without contributing a damn thing.

 

[bluesky]

You keep congratulating Hasina, she did nothing to help all this. It is the local entrepreneurs who got the investments and set up infra to produce and export the products.

@SoulSpokesman the Indian snake thinks Hasina Bibi is producing all the shoes and sneakers in Bangladesh when his country India smuggles out most of the high-quality skin and hides from BD.

 

[Bilal9]

@SoulSpokesman the Indian snake thinks Hasina Bibi is producing all the shoes and sneakers in Bangladesh when his country India smuggles out most of the high-quality skin and hides from BD.

It's OK bhai - I doubt he has any idea.... it's our job to inform him of reality.