Overseas Trading in Bangladeshi Cultural Products

Bangladesh’s export potential is growing fast. Along with the traditional products, which make the main export basket, fresh non-traditional items are being added to it. Reports say, processed foodstuffs are gaining potential markets in the Middle East, UK, Italy, Australia, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa and other parts of the world. The market of these non-traditional items, however, has some special characteristics. That is Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) are the main customers of these food products in the overseas markets. From this point of view, it can be said that the Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) are turning into a big promoter of Bangladeshi foods and other non-traditional items abroad.

 

In the past, rice and potato flakes made the bulk of the processed food products exported in the international market. Though in the beginning, the foreign-bound consignments of the food and other edible items were a mere trickle, it is gradually getting bigger and growing to be a narrow stream. But this stream, too, is getting wider with the passage of days.

 

The fresh items added to the non-traditional basket of export are chanachur, puffed rice, aromatic rice, pickles, spices, snacks, mustard oil, fried pulses and the like.

 

Patriotic buying by Bangladeshis living abroad apart, the customer base of some local food products is also increasing among the people of the host countries themselves. In Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia are importing fruit juices and candies from Bangladesh. In the European continent, on the other hand, the United Kingdom is itself an importer of Bangladeshi biscuits. Through these markets are still small, it is possible to expand the save through more aggressive promotional activities.

 

In the fiscal 2006-07, processed food products worth US$2.9 million was sent to Saudi Arabia alone. It may be mentioned here that, Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest destination of the wage earners from Bangladesh.

 

According reports, the total earning from food products increased by 119 per cent to 22.94 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2006-07. But during the first four months of the current fiscal the same was about US$12.39 million, which points to a 40 per cent increase over the same period of the previous fiscal.

 

At the moment, whatever markets of local food products are there in the overseas niches have been possible thanks to the efforts of the local entrepreneurs themselves. If the government lends a hand more proactively in the matter, it is possible to expand the markets for such non-traditional items in the overseas destinations further.

 

Though it sounds rather heartening that prospects for exporting Bangladeshi food products in the international market are increasing day by day, one needs to be circumspect before going in a big way for aggressive marketing of these items abroad. It must be borne in mind that food products are very sensitive items, especially when we are talking about their non-Bangladeshi consumers. It is about the standard and quality of these items matters most. Emphasis on the quality of the exportable food items has some historical contexts. One may recall here how some unscrupulous operators in the external trade damaged the reputation of Bangladesh by exporting low quality and even infected and adulterated food items in the European markets. As a consequence, export of those items to European markets had to face embargo. The unfortunate incident did cause huge loss to the country both from the points of view of economy and national image in the eyes of the foreign buyers. Even then, the items in question facing such embargo consisted of raw fishery products and as such culturally less sensitive than processed food items. But if similar instances of thoughtlessness are repeated in the case of processed food items that would not only be a case of economic loss, but also one of outright sacrilege. That is because cooked or processed foodstuffs are also purveyors of our local culture to the foreign lands where those are exported. And under no circumstances should one be allowed to compromise our cultural pride.

 

The government needs to throw its weight behind the local exporters of non-traditional food items to overseas markets so that such exportable items can be tested for their quality and standards. The role of the government here would be to create the testing and standardisation facilities for these exportable food items.

 

A clarification, however, is necessary about the use of the term ‘non-traditional’ items of export. Here the word ‘traditional’ in question is not to be confused with our national ‘culture and tradition.’ Used in the context of export trade, ‘traditional items’ stand for the kind of local products that represent the mainstream of the country’s export trade such as garment products, jute, leather goods, medicines, various consumer goods, tea, fishery items and so on. In that sense processed food products are ‘non-traditional’ export items, though they represent our national tradition very much in the cultural sense of the term. The clarification is relevant here because in some reports the exportable foodstuffs referred to above were termed as ‘traditional’ items. And of course, in that case the word ‘traditional’ was used in the cultural sense of the term.

 

Let us return to the issue of ensuring the qualities and standards of the processed foodstuffs exported to the overseas markets. The special emphasis on maintaining such standards for processed food and other cultural products, however, does not imply that there is room for any laxity in the case of the traditional export items. In fact, any kind of export from a country can be looked upon as doing some ambassadorial function for the exporting nation concerned. One cannot therefore even think of sending an ambassador in a foreign country where he would let the home country down. In that sense, a high quality local product displayed on the shelves of an overseas shopping place plays, of course, the role of a good emissary for the country.

 

Business is carried out in an extremely competitive environment everywhere. So, laxity in any respect is another name for committing suicide. And the issue in question is equally germane in all conceivable contexts, let alone in the arena of trade and commerce. On this score, the trading community of the country can play a very vigorous role in that their commodities displayed in the marketplaces overseas speak volumes for the country of their origin.

 

So, to thrive in this tough competitive environment, the quality of our exportable items, whether traditional and non-traditional, has to be maintained religiously. This is more so in the face of image crisis Bangladesh has been going through since long.

 

Against this background, the role played by our business community, especially those engaged in the export trade, deserve appreciation. For in spite of the political turmoil and the relentless branding of the country as a very corrupt one by the foreign media, the business people continued their work silently to increase the country’s export earning. And the very fact that they have been showing success in sending ever larger consignments of goods to the foreign markets is enough proof that the overseas buyers have not at all lost their faith in Bangladesh.

 

In this context, the export of the non-traditional items including processed food and other cultural products points to a very new, but very positive trend in our business culture abroad. The trend has to be maintained with more vigour with special attention to the cultural sensitivity of the products being conveyed abroad.

Source: The Financial Express, Author: Syed Fattahul Alim