T-shirts drive exports to Germany

Bangladesh’s share in the German apparels market is widening rapidly due to high demand for local T-shirts, industry leaders say.

In 2008, Bangladesh ranked third in the export of T-shirts to Germany, following the intra-EU 27 nations and Turkey, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and research carried out by the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).

Bangladesh’s position in the export of T-shirts to Germany may remain the same in fiscal 2009-10. In fiscal 2008-09, Bangladesh exported knitwear worth $1.34 billion and woven garments worth $802 million to the European country.

Local exporters are expected to see brighter days ahead as Germany has escaped the clutches of its worst recession in over 60 years. Latest official data showed that consumption helped Europe’s biggest economy grow by 0.3 percent in the second quarter.

The positive growth figures are the latest in a series of economic data that suggests Germany might bounce back relatively quickly from a deep and painful recession.

A Matin Chowdhury, managing director of Malek Spinning Mills Ltd, said one of his companies, Knit Asia, exported knitwear products worth $40 million to the EU, mainly Germany, last year.

“Germany is the single largest export destination for Bangladeshi apparels items after the US,” Chowdhury said. “However, all potential to grow exports would remain unutilised if the supply of gas cannot be ensured.”

Dragon Group Managing Director Mostafa Q Sobhan said he exported sweaters worth $15 million to Germany last year. “The German economy is growing at a good rate and so our potential to shine in that country is also bright.”

In fiscal 2008, the value of total imports of T-shirts to Germany was 1.69 billion euros, 2.29 billion euros for sweaters with a 22.54 percent market share, 1.3 billion euros for denim with an 11.76 percent share, while trousers have a 17.26 percent market share.

Bangladesh’s share of global T-shirt exports to Germany was 18.47 percent in 2008, up from 15.33 percent in 2007. China’s share was 10.55 percent in 2008 and 8.66 percent in 2007

India had a 7.33 percent share in 2008, down from 7.85 percent in 2007, and Turkey’s share was 24.06 percent in 2008 and 26.36 percent in 2007.

The other major knitwear export items from Bangladesh are socks, tights and pantyhose, cotton garments for babies, blouses, stockings and cotton trousers and sweaters.

In 2008, Germany imported knitwear items worth $14.31 billion and woven garments worth $16.91 billion, while total imports were worth $1.53 trillion and exports were $1.2 trillion.

The top-10 knitwear import items in Germany constitute 60.89 percent of market share. Among the products, cotton T-shirts take the lead, while demand for items made out of manmade fiber is gradually falling.

In the export of woven garments to Germany in 2008, intra-EU nations lost 9 percent, China gained 16 percent, Turkey lost 3 percent, Bangladesh gained 1 percent and India gained 1 percent.

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

New invest $1.395m in KEPZ

A Bangladeshi company, ZANT Accessories Limited will, set up a garments accessories industry in the Karnaphuli Export Procession Zone with an involvement of $1.395 million. This local company will produce accessories for shoes, caps, bags and garments items. The enterprises will create employment opportunity for 73 Bangladeshi nationals. An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and the ZANT Accessories Ltd in BEPZA Complex in the Dhaka city on Monday.

Source: Newage

Dhaka international plastic fair begins in city

The 5th Dhaka international plastic, packaging and printing industrial fair kicked off at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre in the Dhaka city on Monday.
The fair aims at boosting the local as well as international market of plastic products, raw materials and machineries.
Inaugurating the fair, the education and commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, said diversified and quality products are needed to capture the international as well as local market of plastic and packaging industry.
The Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Es Event Management of Malaysia and the Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service Company of Hong Kong are jointly organising the four-day fair.
He said plastic industry had some problem in issues of banking, finance and environmental releasing certificate and the government was working to resolve them.
The BPGMEA president, Jasim Uddin, said local plastic products was now facing competition with the foreign products in the international market and producing quality products to win over the challenges.
More than 300 exhibitors of different countries, including Austria, China, Greece, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, the USA and Taiwan, are participating along with about 40 local companies.
The fair will remain open from 12:00 noon to 8:00pm till January 31 to all with Tk 20 entry fee.

Source: Newage

Growing tea gardens changes life of Panchagarh people

The overall socio-economic condition of common people is changing fast in Panchagarh following a faster growth of the tea sector.
Local tea growers, chamber leaders and officials concerned opined that setting up of more tea processing industries, competitive markets at the grass roots for tea leaves, supply of natural gas and resolving problems like power crisis could accelerate the production of tea. At the same time, hundreds of Panchagarh females, who lived in utter miseries due to abject poverty for years together, are now changing their fate and achieving self-reliance by earning wages as plucking workers in the dozens of tea gardens at the officially recognised third Tea Zone of the country. The growing tea sector in Panchagarh has ushered in a new hope for further enhancing the standard of socio-economic life and women empowerment, they said. The female workers are yet to get their just wages from the garden-owners as the growing tea-farming sector in the region has been facing manifold problems including present unfair prices of the tea leaves for the tea farmers. Presently, over 7,000 skilled an unskilled workers, mostly women, have been working in 246 tea gardens, including 18 big estates, 13 medium-size and 215 small-scale gardens set up on more than 1,815 acres of land in Tentulia and its surrounding areas, they said. Of them nearly 2,300 workers, mostly women, are working alone at the giant Kazi and Kazi Tea Estate (KKTE) at Tentulia which has earned reputation in both national and international markets by producing, processing and marketing the famous and most popular Mina Organic Tea and earning foreign exchange.
Small-scale tea farmer Mozahedul Hassan of village Dwarikamari in Sadar upazila while talking to BSS said he has been growing tea in 7 bighas of land after selecting 20 bighas for the purpose and lifting 50 to 60 kg tea leaves every week from the garden.
Small-scale tea farmers Abdur Rahman of village Dorjipara, Esahaq Ali Mandal of village Pediagoach and Raju Mia of village Majhipara in Tentulia upazila and Motiar Rahman of Sadar upazila expressed similar views to BSS recently. Development Officer of Panchagarh Regional Tea Board Amir Hossain today told BSS that there are tremendous scopes for expansion of the tea farming area in Panchagarh and Bangladesh Tea Board has been providing necessary trainings to the selected farmers and per hectare subsidy of Tk 14,000. Assistant Manager of TTCL Manjur Hassan said smooth supply of 220-volt power is required for processing and producing tea and the required voltage is not available most of the time, which compels using power generators that increases production costs.
According to Director of Small-scale Tea Farming Project and Director of Bangladesh Tea Board (Dev) Azharul Islam, the government has taken steps for expanding newer Tea Zones for further increase of tea production in the country to meet the growing demand.

Source: BSS

Bangladesh Govt plans to set up four economic zones

The government has decided to set up four economic zones (EZs) in the country aiming to attract more investment from home and abroad, and foster economic growth, sources said. The World Bank recently suggested the government to establish the EZs to encourage domestic and foreign investment here.Under the plan the Comilla export processing zone (EPZ) and the Hi-Tech park for information technology in Kaliakor under Gazipur district will be turned into economic zones for promoting more investment, official sources said.As per the decision one EZ will be set up for readymade garment (RMG) factories and the other for producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The sources said the RMG industrial park and API park might be set up at Gazaria area under Manikganj district. Sources in different government agencies said they had already started work on establishment of the EZs for encouraging domestic and foreign investments. “We have already completed social impact assessment survey in order to expand the Comilla EPZ as EZ. Besides, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) will be carried out soon there,” the Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf told the FE.

He said: “We have sent a development project proposal (DPP) to the Planning Commission (PC) on the expansion of the Comilla EPZ project. On completion of the EIA survey and getting nod from the commission we will start the expansion work.” Following the success story of the EPZs in Bangladesh, the World Bank had asked the government to develop the Comilla EPZ into EZ so that it could be replicated in other parts of the country, the chief of the BEPZA said. Yussuf said his organisation is expanding the Comilla EPZ so that more entrepreneurs can install more industrial units there.

Last month, a World Bank mission after discussion with the government agencies suggested development of the Comilla EPZ as an EZ after expansion of its present area and development of adequate facilities for the investors. The Bank will extend financial support to the government under the “Private Sector Development Support Project (PSDSP)” for building the EZs. Official sources said the Board of Investment (BoI) is working as a coordinating agency while the BEPZA, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) and Ministry of Science & Information and Communication Technology are involved in setting up the EZs. According to sources in the BSCIC, it has sent two project proposals to the PC for setting up the RMG industrial units and API park at Gazaria. Under the project, the RMG units from Dhaka will be relocated at the new EZ in Gazaria and producers of API will set up industries to produce pharmaceutical raw materials and products, the sources said.

Source: Financial Express

Denmark-Bangladesh joint venture to invest $6 million

A and B Outerwear Limited, a Denmark-Bangladesh a joint venture company, is going to set up a garments manufacturing industry in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) with an involvement of US$6.0 million, reports BSS. The cent per cent foreign owned company will produce 2,500,000 pieces of garment items annually. The company will create employment opportunity for 1002 Bangladeshis and two foreign nationals.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and A and B Outerwear on BEPZA Complex here Thursday.

Prasanta Bhushan Barua, Member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Major (Retd) Imroze Ahmed, managing director of A and B Outerwear Limited signed the lease agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Among others, Brig General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, executive chairman, Member (Engineering) Md Farhad Uddin, Member (Finance) AKM Mahbubur Rahman, Secretary BM Kamal, General Manager (Investment Promotion) AZM Azizur Rahman and other officers of BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony.

Source: Financial Express.