Sri Lanka starts $ 2 m drive

To expand booming footwear, leather sector:

Sri Lanka is injecting US $ 2 m to upgrade its booming footwear and leather sector. It has started work on an exclusive industrial zone designated for leather and footwear production and is also launching special human resource training initiatives while enlisting a national university to upgrade the leather and footwear sector which netted US $ 36 m in export revenues in 2011.

The Sri Lankan footwear and leather sectors players are also upbeat on the prospects of the latest fair. “I am pleased to announce, that we will be setting up a footwear training school in collaboration with SLITA with the assistance of Indian Footwear Development Design Institute at a cost of Rs 120 million ($ 1 m), and we have also started preliminary work on a new Leather and Footwear industrial zone at a cost of Rs 120 million ($ 1 m) at Wanathavilluwa region focus on leather tanning manufacturing as well as footwear. We are also planning to initiate a degree programme on footwear and leather at the Moratuwa University, said Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the inauguration event of the Leather and Footwear Fair 2012 at the BMICH Conventions Centre, Colombo. Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa was taking part on the occasion as the chief guest along with Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Jayarathna Herath.

The Fair opened on February 10 amidst considerable local and Indian industry stakeholder presence. The fourth in a series, the fair has also received a boost due to strong participation by IFCOMA, the Indian leather and footwear manufacturers’ collective called the ‘Indian Footwear Components Manufacturers Association’. IFCOMA has brought down 25 Indian footwear and leather manufacturing firms for the fair which ended yesterday. Also taking part were exhibitors from Italy and China.

“I also stress that the plentiful supply of trainable human resources available in Sri Lanka is a vital strategy, if not the key, to advance Sri Lanka’s footwear and leather industry to the international levels. To this end I am pleased to announce that our neighbour India has agreed to extend its valuable assistance to Sri Lanka’s footwear industry following a request made by myself in 2011 during the fourth Indian Leather Buyer-Seller Meet held in Colombo for which I thank India. The assistance will be for skills building and training for the local footwear and leather industry. I stress that we still import the bulk of our leather requirements directly from Chennai. And all of us are aware that India has become the number two footwear producer in the world.

“I have no doubts that Sri Lanka’s 30,000 strong footwear and leather work-force will immensely benefit from this valuable assistance,” Minister Bathiudeen said.

Export Development Board of Sri Lanka Chairman Janaka Ratnayaka addressing the occasion said: “This sector has registered a positive growth rate. Now our footwear is also catering to such international brands as Nike and Dexter. The leather manufacturers have now expanded to produce smaller leather products. The main markets for our footwear are Italy, Germany, UK and France while the main markets for our leather products are USA and Germany.”

“We are very privileged to be a part of this prestigious fair,” said IFCOMA General Secretary Pradeep Aggarwal addressing the occasion. “IFCOMA has been a part of Sri Lanka footwear industry for a decade now and we have been conducting regular buyer-seller meets in Sri Lanka.

Our objective is to create direct country to country industry linkages, specially component manufacturers in India and footwear and leather manufacturers in Sri Lanka. We have been quite successful in this as we have observed a substantial increase in trade between the two countries in this sector,” Aggarwal added.

Many Sri Lankan leather and footwear manufacturers taking part in the fair were upbeat as the latest show has given them an opportunity to forge wider industry linkages.

“This year we have a wider variety of producers from this sector,” said Bettans Lanka Exports Chairman and CEO Chandralal de Silva. “We want to see increased local raw material inputs to the industry. We will benefit immensely if we can increase it to 70%,” de Silva said. De Silva is a pioneering footwear manufacturer in Sri Lanka and his Bettans Lanka Exports is a supplier to Fiordibaci label, the ladies footwear range from Italy.