LightCastle Partner, in association with Centre of Excellence for Leather Skill Bangladesh Limited (COEL) published ‘ Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Leather and Footwear SMEs’ report. To gauge the impact of the pandemic on leather product and processing factories, LightCastle conducted a survey on 30 factories in the Bhairab and Kishorgonj area during July, 2020. 
The interviews have led to insights that give a real-life picture of the actual reach of proposed support systems and the policy course corrections that are pertinent. This paper suggests key support areas that are to be fixated in order for the sector to survive the downturn.
According to survey report, – Local demand has decreased sharply resulting in lower revenue for most SMEs. At least 57 percent of factories report a 50 to 75 percent decrease in revenue due to factory closure during the pandemic. – During the lockdown, at least 47 percent of SMEs have experi -enced a d e c r e a s e
of 10 percent of sales and in-turn on profit. – At least 87 percent o f respondents have moderately agreed that they faced some form of disruption in supply chain due to the pandemic. At least 73 percent of factories expect to lay-o more than 50 percent of their employees.
Only one-third had any outstanding loan and majority borrowed from Banks and majority have received no interest deferral options during the pandemic. Only 36 percent of factories so far have managed to meet their loan payment time period without incurring additional expenses. *source: www.lightcastlebd.com
