Denimco Textile, a Turkish denim maker, will open an office in Dhaka soon to sell the fabric to Bangladeshi exporters directly, as Bangladesh is a major exporter of denim products to Europe and US markets.“Everything is ready and we will open the office within one and a half months,” said Oguz Aksoy, marketing officer of Denimco. “Bangladesh is an important market for us because its economy is growing rapidly,” Aksoy said, sitting at his stall at the two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo that began at Radisson hotel in Dhaka yesterday. Currently, his company produces 3.5 million metres of denim fabrics a month, of which 70 percent are exported and the rest are sold in the Turkish market, he said. Many posh retailers and brands are their customers as they produce a variety of denim fabrics, with their prices ranging from $3 to $350 a yard.Not only Denimco, many internationally renowned denim makers and importers now aim to increase business in Bangladesh, which has become a major supplier of denim products offering lower prices and high quality.“We are shifting to Bangladesh as China, the largest denim supplier worldwide, has become expensive,” said Marco Nava, export manager of Garmon Chemicals and Fashions, a chemical supplier based in Italy.Nava said his company supplies chemicals worth $28 million a year to denim makers worldwide, including $3 million to Bangladeshi businesses. “Bangladesh has a bright future in denim business,” said Nava, who also attended the first version of the show in November last year.The demand for denim garments is on the rise worldwide, said Vichai Phromvanich, managing director of Absolute Denim, a Thai company, which sells denim fabrics to Bangladeshi companies.“Bangladesh has a big opportunity in denim business as the country’s main export markets are Europe and the US,” Phromvanich said.So we think Bangladesh is an important country for us. In future, we may go for partnerships with Bangladeshi firms,” he saidWith the rise in business, local fabrics makers are also going for expansion or setting up new production units. “Production in our new factory will start from July. Initially, we have a target to produce two million yards of denim fabrics a month, but we will increase our capacity to six million yards from next year,” said Muhammad Zakir Hossain, deputy manager of Square Denims Ltd, a new entrant and a unit of Square Group.Hossain said they are in talks with major international brands and retailers to sell their fabrics. “We are also going to open a factory to make denim products,” he said.Bangladesh has 25 denim mills and five more are going into production by the end of this year. Bangladesh produces 20 million yards of denim fabrics a month and can meet 60 percent of the demand, while the rest is met through import.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/denim-makers-link-retailers-dhaka-81739
