Photo : Collected
Businesses in the leather preservation sector seek storage facilities at local levels in Natore, Chittagong, and Dhaka to ensure proper conservation, monitoring, and prevention of decay for sacrificial animal hides.
They propose that modernising unused storage areas across various regions could swiftly mitigate leather preservation challenges, protecting substantial annual sacrificial hide losses and safeguarding national assets.
On Saturday, a meeting was organised at FBCCI’s Motijheel office under the Standing Committee on Hide and Skin, Leather, Leather Goods, and Artificial Leather. The session was chaired by the committee’s Chairman and former director of FBCCI, Shahin Ahmed.
Serving as the committee’s acting director-in-charge was Mohammad Saiful Islam, former president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Senior Vice-President of FBCCI Md Amin Helaly highlighted the need for strengthened government-led storage arrangements in every district for leather preservation.
He suggested that private sector involvement could be enlisted if necessary. Furthermore, strict compliance in the leather industry’s operations should be ensured not only for export markets but also for domestic production quality.
The relocation of the leather industry hub from Hazaribagh to Savar, aimed at facilitating compliance with international environmental standards (such as the Leather Working Group’s compliance certificate), remains challenging due to inadequate solid waste management infrastructure.
The committee’s acting director-in-charge, Mohammad Saiful Islam, said this issue hampers efforts to increase leather and leather goods exports.
Chairman Shahin Ahmed underscored the committee’s focus on providing easy financing for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the leather industry, particularly around Eid-ul-Adha.
He attracted the government’s attention to remove non-tariff barriers to leather exports from countries like China. Additionally, the committee members presented several proposals, including representation of all stakeholders in the national committee on leather industry management law.
FBCCI Director Hafez Hazi Harun-Or-Rashid, Md Azizul Haque, FBCCI Secretary-General Md Alamgir, co-chairmen of the Standing Committee, and members were present at the function.
Messenger/Fameema
