Packaging gets Tk5,000cr investment in Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar

[AmiEktaKharapChele]

Bangladesh accounts for $1 billion annual export to $800 billion global packaging and accessories market​

Local packagers and accessory-makers are going to invest Tk5,000 crore in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar to meet its packaging demand as well as to boost direct packaging export, according to manufacturers.


The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) has already approved the investment and allotted 25 acres of land to the packagers, Md Moazzem Hossain Moti, president of the Bangladesh Garments Accessories & Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told The Business Standard.

He, however, said around 1,900 members of the association need at least 100 acres of land for the investment, which the association estimates will generate 4,000 jobs.


"We will begin the construction of the factory after getting certain authorisations from Beza. This may take six months," Moazzem Hossain told TBS.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar, the country's largest industrial city, is being constructed on an area of 30,000 acres in Mirsarai and Sitakunda upazilas of Chattogram and Sonagazi upazila of Feni. There will be a garment village at the industrial city spanning 500 acres of land.



Moazzem Hossain said the association wants to provide packaging support to the garment village, and boost packaging and accessory export at the same time.

He said the new packaging factories in the industrial city will manufacture polybags, plastic hangers, different types of threads, twill tapes, drawstrings, padding and quilting tapes and zippers.


According to the association, there are now around 1,800 packagers and accessory-manufacturing units, mostly in Gazipur and Narayanganj. The factories supply 40 types of products, such as buttons, plastic hangers, polybags, labels, zippers, tags, tapes, thread, ribbon, rivets, laces, hooks, transfer film, paper, and ink, to export-oriented readymade garment industries.


This backward linkage sector is able to meet the overall packaging demand of the local RMG and leather sectors.

Besides, local packagers provide backward linkage support to leather, pharmaceuticals, home textile, rice and crockeries.


According to Moazzem Hossain, the packaging industry fetched the country $7 billion in the last fiscal year through the apparel channel, while annual direct packaging export to 18 countries hovers around $1 billion.

Manufacturers said the global packaging market is around $800 billion. Moazzem Hossain said they are working to boost the direct export too.





Source

 

[UKBengali]

Again loving how it is BD companies that are mainly investing to create jobs in BD.

No country can develop if it relies on MNCs to provide jobs for its workforce.

 

[Bengal71]

What a great news. Alhamdulillah. May Allah favour the Bengalis.

 

[mb444]

Again loving how it is BD companies that are mainly investing to create jobs in BD.

No country can develop if it relies on MNCs to provide jobs for its workforce.

Absolutely, export substitution is key. We must develop our economic base as much as possible to subsitute areas of export.

 

[rainbowrascal]

Jute and leather should get equal focus as textiles

 

[Abu Shaleh Rumi]

leather

This sector is fuked! Don't know why...

 

[Destranator]

This sector is fuked! Don't know why...

Lack of environmental standards.

 

[Bilal9]

This sector is fuked! Don't know why...

No it isn't. The reasons are two fold.

1. Govt. (due to Indian pressure and influence) is not reducing the tariff on leather-processing inputs. Indian fear is that these chemicals will be smuggled to India, making their local mfrs. lose markets and money. Also, Indians are salivating at supplying inputs for leather industry in Bangladesh.
2. Also - the local leather tannery re-location process is not complete from Hazaribagh to Savar Tannery Complex (New) because the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) there is not fully functional yet. Unless effluent treatment certification is not completed, overseas markets (EU especially) will not allow Bangladeshi leathergoods because of compliance laws.

Tannery relocation hits Bangladesh leather export hard | Trade News Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s exports of leather and leather products fell by 12.03 per cent in FY 2017–18 (July–June). This fall is being attributed to forced relocation of tanneries to the Savar Tannery Complex, which is not yet fully functional.

apparelresources.com

Lack of environmental standards.

Exactly. Only 85% of the tanneries have relocated to Savar where they are having severe issues activating the Effluent treatment facilities.

 

[Bilal9]

Exports of leather and goods go past $1b again​

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Jun 10, 2022


Exports of leather and leather goods registered year-on-year growth of 36.93 per cent and 34.51 per cent respectively in the July-April period of the current fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.

Shipments, however, slowed in May.

Exporters in Bangladesh raked in more than $1 billion in the shipment of leather, leather goods and footwear in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year despite a slowdown in May owing to supply chain disruptions and the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war, official figures showed.

The country received $1.16 billion from exports of leather, leather goods and footwear between July and May, already the highest in the last five years, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The higher exports came despite the slowdown in the exports of leather and leather goods last month.

Between July and April, the shipment of leather and leather goods had registered year-on-year growth of 36.93 per cent and 34.51 per cent respectively.

The shipment from both sectors slowed to 28.56 per cent and 34.03 per cent respectively in May. Overseas sales of leather footwear, however, grew from 31.46 per cent in the July-April period to 31.59 per cent in the July-May period.

Exporters say higher living costs in the UK, the European Union and other parts of the world are behind the lower demand for leather goods as customers prefer spending on essential commodities in the face of rising inflation.

Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director of Apex Footwear, said it is not clear how long the present situation would last as it remains uncertain when the Russia-Ukraine war might end.

“It is an unpredictable subject. There will be implications if the crisis continues for long. But if it is short-lived, the situation will be different,” he added.

Manzur, also the president of the Leather goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), went on to say that it is very difficult to make predictions.

“Our job now is to watch and see,” he said.

Considering the fact that higher prices mean nothing if export volumes drop, Manzur said manufacturers should aim to reduce the cost of doing business so that they can stay competitive in the global market.

Ziaur Rahman, managing director of Bay Footwear, said that judging by their results in the fourth quarter of the ongoing fiscal, the company projects a 10 per cent drop in overseas orders in 2023.

“So, if we can’t maintain our costs, we will lose our competitiveness in the international market,” he added.

Shakawat Ullah, general secretary of the Bangladesh Tanners Association, said the Russia-Ukraine crisis has impacted the export of leather and leather goods.

“But we can overcome the problem no matter what,” he added.

Leather and leather goods shipments amounted to $111.55 million in the last 11 months of the current fiscal year, when the country’s total export receipts added up to $846 million.

Ullah said manufacturers worked hard during the pandemic to explore new markets and protect their factories and employees, leading to the discovery of non-traditional markets such as Russia and Morocco.

Leather goods are one of the top three highest export earning sectors for Bangladesh.

There are about 60 local firms, including Apex Footwear, Jennys Shoes and Bay Footwear, that export various leather goods mainly to Japan, the EU and to some extent, the US.