Textile millers fear losing competitiveness in the global market as the government’s move for using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the manufacturing sector will hike the production cost.Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) President Tapan Chowdhury made the remark while addressing a press conference on the upcoming Dhaka International Textile and Garment Machinery Exhibition (DTG)-2017 in the city on Sunday. A four-day mega expo on textile machinery is set to kick off at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city on Thursday.Besides, the sector people claimed that scarcity of lands and insufficient gas and electricity connection are the key barriers to the private sector investment growth. The government is going to establish a LNG terminal in Kutubdia Island to supply imported gas to the industry people as the country fears of finishing its natural gas stock in near future. BTMA along with Yorkers Trade and Marketing Services, Chan Chao International will organise the show where a total of 1,000 machinery manufacturers from 33 countries will take part. “It would be very difficult to remain competitive in the global markets after using LNG in the manufacturing units as it would increase the production cost,” said Tapan in response to a question.He continued as saying: “We are yet to get any clarification about the possible LNG pricing and other related process although we have heard that per unit gas may cost Tk14, which would hit hard the spinning industry. ”Despite political stability and comparatively low bank interest rates, the private sector investment growth is still not up to the expected level, said Tapan, also a former advisor to a caretaker government. He explained that scarcity of land and insufficient gas and electricity connections are now being considered as the barriers to the private sector investment in the country. As the sector people are not getting the connection for the expansion of their existing business, it would hurt the apparel industry as the textile industry is the source of raw materials for the sector, he added.Currently, country’s textile industry has an investment of US$6 billion while RMG and textile sector contribute about 86% of total export and textile industry’s contribution to GDP is 13%.
