The primary textile sector (PTS) in Bangladesh has made significant progress, with textile mills meeting around 80 to 85 per cent of the demand for knit fabrics and 35 to 40 per cent of that for woven fabrics of the readymade garments (RMG) industry in the past three decades, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association president Tapan Chowdhury said yesterday. Chowdhury was speaking while inaugurating the 14th Dhaka International Textile and Garment Machinery Exhibition (DTG) at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital yesterday. Chowdhury said the DTG is not just an exhibition to display the latest technological advances in textiles and garments machineries and accessories; it also showcases and demonstrates the progress and advancements in the country’s industrialisation efforts in the textiles sector. The four-day annual exhibition is being organised jointly by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), Chan Chao International Co. Ltd, Taiwan and Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service Co. Ltd. Some 1,000 textile machinery manufacturers from 33 countries will participate in the exhibition, spanning 18 halls comprising 1,200 booths, BTMA officials said. Bangla Cat, a textile machinery and accessories solution provider company, is taking part in the expo to showcase its products. Manager of Bangla Cat’s product support division, Ezaz Hossain, said the company provides accessories for the textiles industry, including gas generators and forklifts. Forklifts are generally used for material handling and for lifting materials or goods from one place to another inside the factory, Hossain added. Suzhou Imagin Machinery Company Ltd produces textile machinery. The firm is showcasing its product, ‘Smart Twister’, at the expo. Speaking on the ‘Smart Twister’, the firm’s managing director, Vick Yao, has said ‘Smart Twister’ is a machine used in the textiles industry. It helps perform both twisting and soft winding of a fabric’s yarn. The process cost of soft winding fabric yarn is less compared to other kinds of textile machinery, he explained. The textiles industry has been playing a significant role in building a robust and sustainable backward-linkage industry. The BTMA officials added that the investment in Bangladesh’s textiles sector has topped USD 6 billion. This year the RMG sector has contributed 86 per cent of the country’s entire export income. Hence, the contribution of textiles to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately 13 per cent, said the BTMA officials. Textile machinery worth Tk. 8,322 crore was imported in FY 2015–16, while the figure was Tk. 7,489 crore for FY 2014–15—a growth of 11 per cent. The DTG is the biggest exhibition in the textile and garments sector. It is also known as a mini International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) in South Asia.
