C T Online Desk: New industrial factories are being set up in the city of industrial trade. But in the case of the tannery industry, the picture is quite the opposite.
Although there have been 22 tanneries since independence, now it has come down to only one. Besides, the number of storekeepers has also decreased. As a result, the industry is facing two crises.
It is known that there were 22 tanneries in Chittagong after independence. Due to environmental reasons and losses, 21 were closed at different times. The Medina Tannery was closed due to the latest environmental problems. Reef Leather, an affiliate of Tike Group, currently survives in Chittagong. The tannery has the capacity to buy only 10 percent of the leather collected in Chittagong. The remaining 90 percent has to be taken in Dhaka. Moreover, no new tannery has been built in the district in the last 30 years. However, Chittagong has all kinds of infrastructural opportunities including easy access to raw materials (leather), readily available labor, transportation facilities, bank loan facilities.
Tike Group set up the latest tannery. Reef Leather Limited was established in 1991 in the Kalurghat industrial area of the city. The company buys one to one and a half lakh pieces of raw hides a year. The company exports 100% of its leather products to abroad. After this establishment, no one has invested in setting up a new tannery.
