The much-awaited ‘testing lab’ for the country’s packaging and accessories sub-sector is set to start operation from next month, which is expected to help cut lead time for the export suppliers as we as substantially cut testing costs. They said the lab, set up at an expenditure of Tk 17.4 million in BSCIC industrial area at Tongi in Gazipur, has state-of-the-art facilities to help develop the export-oriented sectors. The European Union funded the project of Bangladesh INSPIRED (Integrated Support to Poverty and Inequality Reduction through Enterprise Development) programme. President of Bangladesh Garment Accessories & Packaging Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) Md Abdul Kader Khan said the garments accessories and packaging though constitute little portion of production cost, those occupy most important position in production economics. He said garments accessories and packaging (GAP) companies exported goods worth nearly US$ 5.7 billion in the last financial year. “The RMG industry has a target to export worth $ 50 billion by 2021. We are expecting to make $18 billion by then,” he said. To meet the demand of the garments sector, capacity of the GAP companies should also be scaled up through increasing operational capacity, improving efficiency of the existing units and developing new ones. “To meet the demand of the buyers, we felt the need of a modern testing lab. Hopefully, the testing lab at Tongi will cater to the industrial requirements,” he added. However, he said, primarily the lab will begin packaging tests including busting strength, moisture, drop test, rough test, barcode test and others. Vice President of BGAPMEA Md Moazzem Hossain said: “We faced gradual pressure from the international buyers for conducting broad range of testing of different aspects of the products.” Testing service has become a basic need for the survival of the products in the world market now, he added. He informed the FE that around 4,000 garment accessories and packaging companies (GAP) in the country manufacture corrugated cartons, extrusion materials, PVC pipes, shopping bags, moulding products, garment bags, woven bags, PET/PE bottles, laminated packages, rigid sheets, household products, cosmetics, medicine packs etc. Chief Executive Officer of Zerin Tex, a fabrics and accessories supplier, Md Juber Alam said different garment buyers have different choices. Local exporters often get work orders where buyers specify packaging requirements; GAP companies then process a carton based on requirements of the buyers, he said. He said a big carton of readymade garments might cost $200 to $250 for testing by multinational companies like SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertech. The cost would now be reduced to just $30 to $50 once the testing lab opens, he said. The GAP companies, however, stressed the need for an institute to develop required technicians for the lab. However, apart from exports along with the RMG sector, Bangladeshi GAP companies are now exporting more than 30 kinds of accessories and packaging materials to Vietnam, Laos, India and some African countries. The BGAPMEA is expecting to make shipments worth $6.0 billion in the current financial year.
