Market for Bangladeshi labourers continues to expand

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said the overseas market for Bangladeshi workers continues to expand and the government intends to pursue such expansion.

“This year, so far, we have already cleared 464,000 workers for employment abroad. At this rate, we should easily surpass 900,000 by year-end, which will be an all time record. Last year we had managed to send 832,000 workers abroad and it was also a record”, he said speaking to media about the government’s continuous effort. The Adviser added, “In terms of remittance, they have transmitted nearly US $4 billion so far. If this trend continues, and there is no reason why it should not, then we are also likely to hit record figures in this respect as well.”

“Of course, in consonance with our 9-point strategy, we will emphasize welfare and upgrading of skills. Problems still exist, but we are preparing to confront and overcome them to the best of our abilities”, said the Adviser, who is also in charge of Expatriate’s Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry. “The search for new markets is on-going. We are also at the final stage of preparing manpower agreements with Bahrain and Jordan”, he concluded.

Source: http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=43471

Four Bangladeshi pharma firms’ double-digit sales growth

Four pharmaceutical companies out of top ten Bangladeshi companies achieved double-digit growth in sales during the January-March period of this year, said global pharmaceutical market intelligence agency IMS in its first quarter report. The report published recently said the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in the country Eskayef posted the best 21.12 percent growth followed by Renata 16.19 percent, ACI 16.17 percent and Drug International 13.79 percent.

IMS is the global source for pharmaceutical market intelligence. It provides critical information, analysis and services that drive decisions and shape strategies of the pharmaceutical companies. It publishes such report regularly and pharmaceutical companies in the world uses the report in optimising portfolios, ensuring successful launches, managing brands and improving the effectiveness of sales teams. The other players Incepta Pharma achieved 6.77 percent growth and Square Pharma only 2.32 percent. Two other members on the top ten companies’ list, Beximco experienced a huge 42.04 percent fall in growth, while Acme faced a 4.89 percent fall in growth during the period.

According to the IMS report, Square continued as the top player of the market with a 18.77 percent share and Tk 181.04 crore sales in the first quarter. Despite a huge fall in sales and other performance, Beximco ranked second with a 6.94 percent market share and Tk 66.96 crore sales during the period.
Incepta Pharma ranked the third largest pharma company with a7.82 percent market share and sales of Tk 75.39 crore. Acme stood fourth with Tk 51.73 sales and 5.36 percent market share, Eskayef ranked fifth with Tk 51.61 crore sales and 5.35 percent market share.

Drug International, ACI, Aristopharma, Renata, Sanofi Aventis ranked sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth respectively in terms of sales and market share. The total market share of the top ten companies is around 63.83 percent. According to the IMS report, the overall sales of the industry reduced by Tk 17 crore during the first quarter of 2008 compared with the previous year. The overall sales of the industry reached Tk 964 crore during the January March period, 2008 while the sales was Tk 981 crore the previous year.

The Industry leaders admitted the fall in sales of the products, blaming the government’s over regulation and sometime unwanted interruption. M Shafiuzzaman, president of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI), said it is not important how the growth of sales has increased or decreased, but it is most important that how the industry became matured in terms of quality of the products.

“The improvement in overall quality of medicine will help grab the international market swiftly besides expanding local market,” he added.

Source:jasim@thedailystar.net http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=43304

Bagerhat based firm starts exporting coconut yarn

A Bagerhat-based firm has started exporting coconut yarn on limited scales to South Korea and Nepal, a non-traditional item in the country’s ‘not-so-rich’ export basket.

Nurjahan Agro Processing Industries (Pvt) Limited uses coconut husks to manufacture different types of yarn meant for export. Coconut yarn-made rope, also known as coir yarn, is being exported to South Korea. Coir yarn is used in agriculture, especially for growing hops, a climbing plant that is a major ingredient in beer, giving the drink its bitter taste.

Around 76 percent of the country’s total export earning comes from the apparel industry. Other major export items include shrimp and jute products, while other non-traditional items include atar (traditional perfume), pearl, honey and sauce. In July-March period of 2007-08 fiscal year, Bangladesh earned Tk 14.45 crore. The company began exports seven months ago and till now has exported coir yarn worth Tk 17 lakh to South Korea. It also received export orders worth Tk 1.8 crore for the next year. Simultaneously, it exported four tonnes of curl yarn worth Tk 5.4 lakh to Nepal and received orders for Tk 12 lakh for the next year. “Husk is a by-product of coconut and is presently disposed of in the country. We are exporting this product with substantial value additions,” said Mir Alamin, managing director of the company. The size of the global coir market is estimated at $ 5 billion. The Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mexico, India, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and Brazil are the major exporters of the product in the global scenario.

Alamin is also producing nata de coco, a jelly like substance, made from coconut water, in the country for the first time. This is mostly used as a confectionary ingredient (litchi flavour) and five-star hotels are the main customers of this product. They supply 50 tonnes of nata per month to the local market and the cost of each tonne is Tk 70,000, according to the company officials. Nurjahan Agro receives financial assistance from Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and from their partners, Habitat and Economy Lifting Programme (HELP), a local NGO. Alamin, who attended a coconut conference in Colombo in 2002, feels that Bangladesh is ignorant of the numerous uses of coconut husk.

In the near future, they will manufacture coconut husk mattresses, as there is a huge demand in the domestic and international markets. Currently, the country imports mattresses from Sri Lanka and India at $10 per square feet. The company also wishes to produce vinegar, using coconut water as the best type of vinegar is produced with coconut oil. “Coconut oil factories just throw out coconut water, which can be used to produce vinegar,” said Hasan Alfi, an official of HELP.

kawsar@thedailystar.net http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=41982

Bangladeshi Local firm to build 10 ships for Japan

Highspeed Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, a Bangladeshi local shipbuilder, has won a US$50 million order from Japan to build ten small ships, further evidence of the country’s booming shipbuilding industry.

This is the first time the country has won a Japanese contract and underlines the increasing global acceptance of Bangladesh as an emerging shipbuilding nation. The buyer is Japan based Tokyo Freighting Ltd, a shipping company. The agreement was signed on Wednesday in Dhaka. “Since the Japanese firm is very conscious about standards and compliance, Tokyo Freighting experts will constantly supervise the overall manufacturing of these ships,” said KM Mahmudur Rahman, managing director of Highspeed Shipbuilding & Engineering, who signed the deal with Shigeki Date, managing director of Tokyo Freighting.

As per the agreement Tokyo Freighting Ltd will also provide technical support to Highspeed in developing its Narayanganj dockyard, in line with Japanese standards. Highspeed, which is to invest around US$ 5 million in the coming months to upgrade the manufacturing facility of its dockyard, will supply the ships by October 2010. Shigeki Date, managing director of Tokyo Freighting Ltd, along with Executive Director Yoshiteru Ikeda visited Highspeed dockyard recently and expressed their satisfaction, as it is well equipped with modern machinery. Manufacturing of the first four ships will start by December this year and will be delivered to Tokyo Freighting by March next year. The size of the ships, including dry cargo carriers and oil tankers, will vary from 2,000 tonnes to 4,000 tonnes. The Japanese company will supply all raw materials and other equipment.

Rahman said Japanese manufacturers are currently outsourcing small ships, as it is not cost effective now to manufacture them at huge dockyards. “It is a great development for the country’s shipbuilding industry as Japan, the most advanced shipbuilding nation in the world, starts building in Bangladesh. It may inspire other advanced shipbuilding nations to come to Bangladesh,” Rahman hoped. Currently local shipbuilders including Ananda Shipyard and Western Marine Shipyard are working on about US$ 400 million worth of orders for over 40 vessels for buyers from Germany, Denmark, Netherlands and Mozambique. The success of these two companies have encouraged other local companies such as Meghna Group of Industries, Rangs Group, Khan Brothers and Narayanganj Engineering & Shipbuilding to jump on the bandwagon of global shipbuilding market.

Behind the current boom of the industry is the global rise in the demand for new ships, especially smaller ones with a capacity below 15,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT). This has helped Bangladesh attract the attention of international shipping companies as traditional shipbuilding countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam are not interested in building ships with under 20,000 DWT.

jasim@thedailystar.net http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=41981

Advertisers Find Outsourcing Success in Bangladesh

Each month Dell, the world’s largest computer seller, pushes around 4.5 million catalogues promoting its products through the letterboxes of homes, businesses and institutions across Europe. Dell’s direct selling model has been a staggering success, but few of its customers could guess that each one of the catalogues is laid out by a small company in Dhaka.

Nor could the readers of some of northern Europe’s largest magazines and newspapers ever imagine that the sparkling adverts appearing on the pages in front of them each morning are put together by another company, also located in the heart of the Bangladeshi capital. During the past few months there has been much talk about the huge potential of IT outsourcing and almost as much noise about the problems the industry faces, in terms of the lack of skilled labour and poor internet connections. However in the field of Desk Top Publishing (DTP), Bangladesh has been quietly making a name for itself for several years.

Imtiaz Ilahi, managing director of Graphic People, a joint venture company between Bangladesh and Denmark, now has 50 employees, many of them working on the Dell catalogues. He said Graphic People’s Danish partners had explored outsourcing alternatives in around 30 countries before settling on Bangladesh. “The catalogues normally range from 16 to 72 pages and there are also flyers and direct advertising materials, moreover we are working in 15 different languages,” Imtiaz said. Graphic People receive the text, photos and instructions from Copenhagen and then fit the text and photos into a template. The template has been developed to cope with the different European languages, so the fact that the DTP artist cannot understand the text is not important.

“Our basic advantage is cost. Desktop publishing is very man hour intensive and it was becoming increasingly expensive to do in Europe. To do the work in Bangladesh costs less than 20 percent of the price in Europe, and we are around 30 percent cheaper than India,” Imtiaz said. But it is not just price that keeps the clients happy, “it’s also about quality,” explains Imtiaz. Graphic People now employs 50 people with two Danes on hand mainly for training and development purposes. Dennis Worck, one the Danes, who works as production director, said that in the four years the joint venture has been running the quality of staff has improved sharply. “When we started the type of people we recruited were far below the standard we are getting right now. Over the last few years it has really gone up and has reached a level where we have to spend less and less time on training,” Worck said. Graphic People is not the only Danish IT joint venture, indeed there are now around 20 opertating in Dhaka in fields ranging from software development to animation, and more are looking to establish themselves.

Earlier this year Denmark sponsored one of the country’s major IT exhibitions, SoftExpo 2008,where the Danish ambassador described Bangladesh’s IT industry as having almost ‘unlimited potential.” Another success story in the Desk Top Publishing sector has been Click House, a joint venture between Danish Click House and local Visual Soft. “Our agency has more than 50 customers in Denmark, ” said Thomas Juul Jensen, project adviser of Click House, that now counts two daily Danish newspapers among its clients. Sitting in the company’s stylish Banani office last week Jensen was correcting advertising images for a big Danish weekly magazine distributed by a supermarket chain. “Basically we receive pictures and text from our clients and then we put together all the materials to make a complete catalogue,” Jensen explained.

“We make the soft copy and then we send it to Denmark via the internet for final printing.”

Working on a magazine or catalogue, deadlines can be staggered to fit into the weekly rhythm. With daily newspapers the pace is more demanding. “We get all the materials the day before and we deliver the ads to the newspapers in the afternoon European time and they can print them that night,” Jensen said.

Jensen said cultural differences do create challenges. “The layout is not normal Bangladeshi layout, its Danish layout, so I have to educate the people to accept that, okay, this is actually what Danish people like.”

However he recognizes the quality of Bangladeshi DTP and graphic artists.”When we came here for the first time last year, we were surprised about the quality of the people. I don’t see any difference in the technical abilities in Bangladesh and Denmark.”

And he is clear why outsourcing has the potential to grow. “Denmark is a low unemployment country—- almost everybody is working. If I am a newspaper owner and want a DTP artist, I have to pay at least seven times more than I pay people working here.”

Of course there are problems, and while the success of small companies is encouraging, many experts believe Bangladesh needs to develop a major IT firm to put the country on the map.

At Graphic People Imtiaz points to failures in infrastructure as a major hurdle, be it unreliable internet connections or power supplies. These mean his company has to pay heavily to provide back up solutions. Internet pricing is also an issue although Imtiaz was positive about the moves now being taken by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to lower costs.

“But we really need to do more to brand Bangladesh as an outsourcing nation. We can win business here and there, but it needs the government to launch a broader campaign to raise the awareness outside the country of what is possible in Bangladesh.”

Source: hasan@thedailystar.net http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=42589

Bangladesh Glass industry meets 95pc local demand

The local multi-billion taka glass industry that sprang up in a span of three years now exports produces to a number of countries after meeting around 95 per cent of the domestic demand. According to industry insiders, a growth in real estate business and construction of huge establishments has helped the industry flourish. The present market size of the country’s four glass manufacturing units is around Tk 300 crore.

These factories, with a capacity of producing 250 tonnes of glass a day, are Nasir Glass Industry, PHP Float Glass Industries Limited, Usmania Glass Sheet Factory Ltd and MAB Glass Industries. Of these, Nasir Glass Industry and PHP Float Glass Industries Limited started commercial production in 2005.

The sector people said by the end of 2002, Bangladesh’s entrepreneurs started thinking about manufacturing glass locally noticing the growth of high-rise buildings and the dearth of quality glass. Previously the country was fully dependent on imported glass, whereas it now imports only 5 per cent of its demand for coloured and luxurious designed glass from China, Thailand and Indonesia. Among the local industries, Nasir and PHP are producing float glass and the rest are producing sheet glass. Palash Ahmed, GM of Nasir Group, said this industrial unit started its journey with an investment of Tk 300 crore, which now holds more than 40 percent of the total market share. He said his company produces every year around 73000 tonnes of glass, including float, shades (commonly known as mirror), tempered and reflective ones. A director of PHP Float Glass Industries Limited claimed that his company is the first one that manufactures the float glass with the thickness ranging from 2mm to 12mm. He said his company produces around 55000 tonnes of float glass per annum and it now puts its efforts for capacity building.

Most of the raw materials, including dolomite, limestone and chemicals, for float and sheet glass need to be imported from abroad. However, the specialised sand, another essential material for producing glass, is available in the local market. The local glass companies are also exporting their produces mainly to South Asian countries, including India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Palash Ahmed said apart from exports to these countries, his company eyes South Korea as its next export destination. Despite all successes, the industry as a whole is faced with some difficulties, which, according to insiders, need to be addressed.
The Nasir Group general manager identified the weak transportation system as a major problem in the sector.
He also urged the government to take necessary measures to ease the border difficulties to smoothen the shipment of consignments, as glasses are usually exported through borders. Rakib Un Nabi, manager of Usmania Glass Sheet Factory Ltd, a famous sheet glass producer, suggested the government provide export incentives for the sector at an enhanced rate, citing the example of China who gives 25 percent incentives to such a sector.
Recently, the commerce ministry said the government is considering giving 10 percent incentives on exporting sectors, which, the industry people hope, would help the sector boom.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=42940

Bangladeshi Pharmaceuticals eye EU market

Export of drugs manufactured in Bangladesh will see big boost soon as major Bangladeshi drug makers, having secured vital accreditations for the European market, are preparing to export to this lucrative market.
According to industry sources, Beximco the leading exporter that explored markets from the Fareast to Latin America, is set to acquire accreditations for Australia and countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Incepta and Renata are getting ready for the highly sensitive European market while Square, the local market leader, is working on several follow-up orders for buyers in UK after sending its first consignment a few months back.
‘We will ship our first consignment to Europe within three months,’ said Abdul Muktadir, managing director of Incepta that secured EU-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certificate in December, 2007.
Incepta is preparing consignments of anti-diabetics, anti-hypertency, anti cholesterol and naturopathic drugs to be procured by a major EU importer.
‘Just during the past one month we received four potential enquires from Europe,’ said the Incepta official which is third in the local market with sales worth about 300 crore ($43 million) in 2007.
He, however, observed that it was not significant how much money Bangladeshi drug makers earned from the EU market. ‘Ensuring importers’ confidence and consistency is crucial now as global drug importers are desperately searching for reliable alternative sources to China or India. So a multibillion dollar market beckons Bangladesh.’
Renata, another giant pharmaceutical, is preparing to export significant number of consignments, contracted with a major pharmaceutical company in UK, of steroids, apparently used in number of life saving drugs.
‘We will be able to ship our first consignment within in a couple of months,’ Monjurul Alam, head of the international business department of the Renata, told New Age on Tuesday.
Renata’s export division, which at present markets drugs in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Hong Kong, Jordan and is eyeing the million dollar mark this current year, is enthusiastic about opportunities in the EU.
‘I see a drug import market worth billions of euros staring at Bangladesh,’ said Alam.
At present multinational Novartis (Bangladesh) exports drugs to Germany and Austria.
Ashfaque Ur Rahman, managing director of Novartis, which shipped mainly cardiovascular and neurological drugs worth about $17 million to Europe in 2007, expects entrance of more Bangladeshi companies into the European market would reap more benefits.
‘200 per cent!’ said Ashfaque when asked about European clients’ impression about the quality of Bangladeshi drugs.
Around 30 Bangladeshi drugs makers explored markets in more than 50 countries including those in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau, export figures will surely reach $40 million with a growth of 50 per cent in the current fiscal to be closed at the end of this month.
But, Nazmul Hasan, the chief executive of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, that eye more than $3 million as its 2008 export proceeds, said, ‘The current amount is almost nothing compared to the industry’s capacity and potential in the global market.’
Nazmul said besides Beximco’s capacity to produce 4 billion pieces, only the large drug manufacturers are ready for manufacturing drugs for the export market, which would require at least 20 billion pieces. ‘If one tablet sells at 10 cents on an average we are ready to earn $2 billion.’
Nazmul foresees that by mid-2009 Bangladesh drug makers will find global markets especially the advanced markets ripe for them.
‘By early next year, most of the patent related cases in WTO will be settled and drug markets will clearly see which items are beyond the purview of patents thus and open for LDCs to produce,’ he said.
According to a WTO agreement, LDCs do not have to implement any kind of intellectual property rights before 2016 for medicines and drugs.

Source: http://www.newagebd.com/busi.html

MPs lose power over upazilas

The cabinet approved the Upazila Ordinance yesterday, giving full decision-making and implementation powers to upazila parishads while stripping members of the parliament (MP) of any role in local governance.

The approval comes as the chief adviser meets around 300 former upazila parishad chairmen and members in the International Conference Centre today to discuss the upcoming local and general elections. The Upazila Ordinance 2008 also empowers the Election Commission (EC) with the authority to hold upazila elections. In line with other electoral reforms brought by the current government, the new Upazila Ordinance will bar individuals legally proven to be war criminals, persons with records of loan defaults within a period of a year prior to nominations, full-time and part-time government employees, convicted felons, and fugitives from contesting in the elections. The ordinance was given the final approval by the cabinet in its weekly meeting yesterday afternoon. The law will become effective after the president promulgates it, repealing the Upazila Parishad Act 1998 (UPA).

Upazila parishads from now on will be led by one chair and two vice-chairs, while one of the seats of vice-chairs will be reserved for women. The parishads’ mandate will include administrative and establishment matters, social welfare, planning, designing and implementation of local economic and social policies. Under the new law, upazila chairmen will not have to consult MPs, which is compulsory under UPA 1998, UPA 1998 allows MPs to interfere in local government decision-making, giving them the chance to weigh in on decisions regarding lucrative infrastructure contracts. The new ordinance, about to be promulgated, also re-empowers the EC with the authority to announce upazila election schedules, which was earlier taken away from it and given to the central government.

The EC in its electoral roadmap announced on July 15 last year declared that the long due polls to the upazila parishads will be held between November and December this year. A number of advisers to the caretaker government recently said polls to the upazila parishads should be held simultaneously with the parliamentary election, which is scheduled for December of this year. The last Awami League (AL) government passed the Upazila Parishad Act empowering the EC to announce schedules for upazila elections.

However, amid a volatile political situation, the then EC could not hold the polls and later the same government amended the law and took away the authority from the EC. Section 25 of the current law empowers lawmakers to become advisers to upazila parishads which are bound to accept their suggestions. Once the new law is promulgated, lawmakers will have no power over upazila parishads and the EC will have the power to announce schedules for upazila polls through discussions with the central government, instead of taking approval from it. The first election to upazila parishads was held in 1985 after its introduction in the local government system during the regime of military ruler HM Ershad.

But the very existence of upazila parishads faced a severe crisis following the second election in 1990 when Ershad stepped down in the face of a mass movement. A BNP government assumed power in 1991 and dissolved the upazila system. The Supreme Court in a judgment in 1992 directed the government to hold elections to upazila parishads within six months, but the BNP government did not hold the polls during its tenure. Assuming power through the 1996 general elections, Awami League passed the Upazila Parishad Act in 1998.

The immediate past BNP-led alliance government, which came to power through the 2001 general election, moved for holding the upazila elections and formed a cabinet committee for the purpose. But the committee members failed to reach a consensus on holding the polls. All those governments meanwhile sought extension of time on many occasions from the Supreme Court to comply with its directives for holding the polls. The current caretaker government recently moved for holding the upazila elections and assured the EC of the return of its power to announce the poll schedules for over 450 upazila parishads.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=41366