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Spanish shoe company, Pikolinos, is expected to set up a leather processing plant in Bangladesh, sources said.
The company wants to utilise the adequate supply of rawhide locally and the generalised system of preference (GSP) facility for exporting the products to European Union (EU) countries.
A five-member delegation of Pikolinos led by Juan Ramon Paren met Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury Wednesday and expressed their its interest to establish a leather processing plant in Savar Leather Park.
Altaf Hossain assured the Spanish shoe company of all-out cooperation. He said the government always welcomes foreign direct investment, sources said.
Leather and leather goods are the fourth largest foreign exchange earning sector for the country after readymade garments (RMG), frozen fish and raw jute and jute goods.
In the last fiscal, Bangladesh earned $ 265.91 million by exporting leather and leather goods to Italy, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Spain, France, Germany, the UK and the USA.
Spain imported leather and leathers goods worth $ 9.70 million in the last fiscal and $ 6.83 million in the 2002-03 fiscal with Pikolinos alone importing almost 90 per cent of the products.
The Spanish shoe giant, that has shoe-making plants in China and Romania, has been importing rawhides from Bangladesh for the last 15 years through local agents.
Currently only one multinational company, Bata, is engaged in shoe-making business in the country.
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