Apex Tannery has approved an investment of Taka 12 crore to set up an in-house effluent treatment facility at its manufacturing unit in the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Savar Leather Industrial Estate, as it seeks to strengthen environmental compliance and meet tightening requirements from international buyers.
The decision was taken at a recent board meeting and disclosed through the Dhaka Stock Exchange, marking a compliance-led investment by the listed leather manufacturer amid continued financial pressure.
According to the disclosure, the proposed facility will comprise an effluent treatment plant, a chrome recovery plant and a sewerage treatment plant, all to be constructed within the tannery premises. The integrated system will span approximately 12,000 to 15,000 square feet and will be designed to treat effluent generated across the full production cycle, from wet blue processing to finished leather.
Industry sources said that while a central effluent treatment plant operates at the Savar tannery estate, technical limitations and capacity constraints have led several tanneries to pursue individual treatment facilities to ensure uninterrupted operations and compliance with buyer standards.
Apex Tannery had previously received approval to establish its own effluent treatment plant, but the latest board decision formalises the investment timeline as regulatory oversight and sustainability expectations from global brands continue to intensify.
The investment comes at a challenging time for the company. Apex Tannery has posted losses for three consecutive financial years since FY ’23 and has not declared dividends due to ongoing financial strain. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the company reported revenue of Taka 13.97 crore, marginally higher than the corresponding period a year earlier, but recorded a loss of Taka 7.59 crore.
